»  * 

1* 


in 


^ 


HISTORICAL   DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED    BY    REQUEST 

BEFORE    THE 

CITIZENS     OF     NEW    HAVEN, 

APRIL    25,    1838, 

THE   TWO   HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

or 
THE    FIRST    SETTLEMENT 


TOWN    AND    COLONY. 


BY    JAMES     L .     KINCSLEY. 


NEW  HAVEN: 
B.    &    W.    NO  YES 

1838. 


l'rintod  by  B.  L.  Hamlen 


The  author  was  invited,  March  20th,  1838,  by  a  joint 
committee  of  the  Connecticut  Academy,  of  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen  of  the  City,  and  of  the  Selectmen  of  the  Town,  of 
New  Haven,  to  prepare  a  discourse  for  the  Second  Centen- 
nial Anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  Colony.  He  subse- 
quently received  the  following  communication. 


Professor  James  L.  Kingsley, 

Sir — The  Committees  appointed  to  conduct  the  Cele- 
bration of  the  Second  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Colony  of  New  Haven,  respectfully  request  that 
you  will  furnish  them  for  publication,  a  copy  of  the  very 
able  Historical  Discourse,  which  on  that  occasion  you  ad- 
dressed to  one  of  the  most  numerous  and  enlightened  assem- 
blies, ever  convened  in  this  city. 
With  the  highest  regard, 

Your  friends  and  fellow  citizens, 

Benjamin  Silliman, 

Thomas  Hubbard, 

Jonathan  Knight, 

Leonard  Bacon, 

Theodore  D.  Woolsey, 

Edward  C.  Herrick, 

Henry  C.  Flagg, 
Benjamin  Beecher, 
Caleb  Brintnall, 
John  B.  Robertson, 
Solomon  Collis, 

Levi  Gilbert,  2d. 
Marcus  Merriman,  Junr.  y  lectmen  of  the  Town. 
New  Haven,  Thursday,  April  26,  1838. 


> 


V 


Committee  of  the 
Connecticut  Acade- 
my of  Arts  and 

Sciences. 


Committee  of  the 
Mayor,  Aldermen 
and  Common  Coun- 
cil of  the  City. 


~)  Committee  of  the  Se- 


N 


1  «r 


ERRATA. 

Page  16,  line  8,  for  June  3,  read  June  26. 
"    89,  "    18,   "    January,  1647,  read  January,  1646. 
"    92,  «      9,   «    Hodgson,  read  Hodshon. 


U^Some  passages  of  the  following  Discourse, 
to  avoid  trespassing  too  much  on  the  patience  of 
the  audience,  were  omitted  in  the  delivery. 


HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE. 


We  are  assembled,  fellow  citizens,  to  commemo- 
rate the  close  of  the  second  century  from  the  first 
planting  of  the  town  and  colony  of  New  Haven. 
This  act  of  respect  and  pious  gratitude  to  the  foun- 
ders of  our  city,  we  have  been  led  to  perform,  less, 
it  is  believed,  by  the  influence  of  custom,  than  by 
a  strong  conviction  of  the  importance  of  the  event 
which  we  celebrate,  and  a  wish  to  impress  on  our 
own  minds,  and  on  the  minds  of  those  who  shall 
come  after  us,  the  great  truths  which  it  is  so  well 
fitted  to  teach. 

Hardly  any  feeling  arises  more  spontaneously  in 
the  human  breast,  than  that  which  prompts  us  to 
recur  to  times  which  are  past,  to  review  the  events 
of  former  years,  and  especially  to  inquire  into  the 
characters  and  fortunes  of  those,  whose  actions  in 
the  order  of  providence  have  a  near  connection 
with  our  own  allotment.  It  affords  us  a  melan- 
choly pleasure,  unless  a  false  philosophy  has  dead- 
ened our  sensibilities,  to  visit  the  places  of  the  bu- 
rial of  such  men,  to  inspect  their  monuments,  to 
traverse  the  ground  which  has  been  the  scene  of 
their  exploits,  and  to  mark  by  some  appropriate  ob- 
servances, the  times,  which  in  their  progress  through 
life,  have  been  especially  signalized  by  disaster  or 
success.    Nor  are  such  reminiscences  without  their 


6 

use.  They  bring  to  our  view,  more  distinctly  and 
with  deeper  conviction,  the  influence  of  man  upon 
man,  the  connection  of  one  generation  and  of  one 
age  with  those  which  follow;  enlarge  our  know- 
ledge of  the  human  character  and  of  human  inter- 
ests, and  at  the  same  time  quicken  the  most  gen- 
erous feelings  of  the  heart.  Our  duties  are  made 
more  clear,  and  our  resolution  to  perform  them 
strengthened  and  confirmed. 

To  indulge  in  reflections  on  the  past,  we  are  this 
day  invited  by  numerous  circumstances  of  deep  and 
affecting  interest.  We  are  entering  on  the  third 
century  from  the  time,  when  civilization  and  Chris- 
tianity were  first  introduced  into  this  part  of  New 
England.  It  is  the  same  season  of  the  year,  the 
sun  is  moving  in  the  same  circle  of  the  heavens,  as 
on  that  day,  when  the  original  settlers  of  this  town, 
first  assembled  after  their  arrival,  to  offer  up,  in  the 
open  air,  their  prayers  and  praises  to  that  Being, 
who  had  conducted  them  in  safety  to  this  spot,  and 
on  whose  almighty  aid  they  relied  for  continued 
support.  We  now  behold  around  us  the  same  hills, 
the  same  plains,  the  same  waters  in  the  distance,  as 
then  greeted  their  eyes ;  and  we  see,  what  they  were 
able  to  discern  only  in  the  dim  future,  and  in  the  vis- 
ions of  hope,  a  cultivated  region  and  a  populous  city, 
enjoying  the  advantages  of  literature  and  religion, 
and  enlivened  by  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  com- 
merce and  the  arts.  Let  us,  then,  yielding  to  the 
dictates  of  our  understandings,  as  well  as  of  our 
feelings,  briefly  review  the  early  history  of  New 
Haven;  without  stopping  to  apologize  to  those, 
who  would  deride  the  observance  of  such  an  anni- 


versary  as  mere  idle  parade,  or  the  lingering  of  pu- 
ritanical prejudice. 

The  great  cause,  which  led  to  the  first  coloni- 
zation of  New  England,  is  well  known  to  you  all. 
But  though  the  subject  is  trite,  a  reference  to  a  few 
facts  seems  necessary,  fully  to  illustrate  the  main 
topic  now  to  be  considered.  The  separation  of  the 
English  church  from  the  church  of  Rome  was  at 
first  rather  political  than  religious ;  it  was  rather 
resistance  on  the  part  of  Henry  VIII.  to  the  power 
and  authority  of  the  pope,  than  a  change  in  doc- 
trines, or  in  the  general  rules  of  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline. That  the  rise  of  Protestantism  should  be 
gradual,  was  a  matter  of  course.  Individuals,  much 
more  large  bodies  of  men,  seldom  renounce  old  opin- 
ions suddenly ;  especially  opinions  so  fondly  cher- 
ished and  so  strongly  fortified  by  early  associations, 
the  influence  of  authority,  and  the  powerful  feelings 
of  hope  and  fear,  as  those  of  religion.  The  right 
and  obligation  of  the  monarch  to  enforce  uniformity 
in  religious  belief  and  worship,  w7as  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reformation,  hardly  questioned  by  any 
one ;  the  only  debate  was,  whether  in  particular 
cases  he  had  determined  correctly.  His  authority, 
therefore,  was  opposed  by  men,  who,  if  they  could 
have  attained  their  object,  would  have  persuaded 
him,  not  to  give  up  the  power  of  legislating  in  mat- 
ters of  religion,  but  so  to  exercise  it  as  to  support 
opinions,  which  they  themselves  had  adopted. 

At  first  the  number  of  individuals  who  withstood 
the  will  of  the  sovereign,  however  capricious,  was  in- 
considerable. The  belief  in  the  infallibility  of  those, 
who  controlled  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs 


8 

of  the  nation,  and  the  dread  of  pains  and  penalties, 
seem  for  a  time  to  have  entirely  subdued  in  the  hu- 
man mind  all  independent  thought.  But  in  a  pe- 
riod of  so  much  mental  agitation,  as  that  from  the 
commencement  of  the  reformation  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  to  the  time  of  James  I.,  it  was  impos- 
sible that  this  intellectual  slavery  should  remain 
undisturbed.  To  believe,  according  to  act  of  par- 
liament, a  doctrine  to  be  at  one  time  essential  truth, 
at  another  the  most  fatal  heresy,  and  at  another  a 
matter  of  indifference,  at  length  exceeded  the  pow- 
ers of  a  few ;  and  the  spell  being  once  broken,  diver- 
sity of  religious  faith  was  increased  and  strength- 
ened. The  art  of  printing  had  made  books  more 
accessible,  the  clergy  as  a  body  were  more  learned, 
men's  minds  were  sharpened  by  controversy,  and 
no  human  power  could  stop  the  progress  of  dis- 
sent. The  puritans,  as  they  were  called,  wished  for 
greater  changes  in  the  church,  especially  in  its  dis- 
cipline, than  met  the  views  of  their  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical superiors;  and  in  consequence  they  were 
exposed  to  severe  sufferings. 

To  these  men  of  ardent  minds  and  tender  con- 
sciences, and  goaded  on  by  intolerance  in  some 
instances  without  doubt  to  extremes,  submission  to 
government  against  their  own  belief  and  sense  of 
duty,  appeared  to  be  the  greatest  of  crimes.  With 
their  convictions,  they  could  neither  comply  with 
the  ceremonies  of  the  church  as  by  law  established, 
nor  cease  to  worship  after  their  own  manner.  But 
in  neither  of  these  respects  could  they  find  indul- 
gence. The  struggle  which  in  consequence  they 
endeavored  to  maintain  with  the  power  of  the  state 


was  unequal ;  and  they  soon  began  to  look  about 
them  for  the  means  of  relief.  To  quit  their  coun- 
try was  a  severe  sacrifice ;  but  this  they  were  ready 
to  make,  if  necessary  to  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion. 

Many  of  these  oppressed  individuals  fled  to  the 
continent;  in  some  parts  of  which,  greater  freedom 
of  opinion  was  allowed  than  in  England.  But  here 
they  were  under  many  severe  restraints;  and  the 
great  object  for  which  they  left  their  homes,  the 
free  exercise  of  religion,  with  the  prospect  of  trans- 
mitting their  own  views  of  faith  and  manners  to 
their  posterity,  was  in  danger  of  being  defeated. 
As  a  last  resource,  they  resolved  to  take  refuge  on 
the  shores  of  North  America.  The  boldness  of 
this  determination  will  not  be  sufficiently  manifest, 
without  looking  at  some  of  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  was  formed.  At  the  time,  when  the  first 
company  of  puritans  sailed  from  Europe  for  Amer- 
ica, very  little  was  known  of  that  part  of  the  conti- 
nent, which  was  called  New  England.  A  few  mar- 
iners had  descried  here  and  there  a  bay  and  a  prom- 
ontory, and  had  landed  at  some  points  on  the  coast ; 
but  they  had  furnished  very  slight  information, 
where  the  shores  could  be  with  safety  approached, 
or  where  were  the  most  favorable  places  for  estab- 
lishing a  colony.  As  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  and 
its  productions,  the  number  and  character  of  the 
native  inhabitants,  their  means  of  annoyance,  and 
the  best  mode  of  conciliating  their  favor ;  and  as  to 
the  climate,  the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  livelihood 
by  agriculture  or  commerce,  and  the  most  favora- 
ble season  for  beginning  a  colonial  establishment, 

2 


10 

there  was  no  distinct  and  credible  account.  That 
there  was  here  a  wide  country,  unoccupied,  except 
by  savages,  is  all  that  was  certain.  But  what  was 
still  more  discouraging  than  venturing  to  cast  their 
lot  in  an  unexplored  region,  was  the  utter  uncer- 
tainty, whether  the  same  oppressive  bigotry,  which 
had  driven  them  from  their  homes,  would  not  pur- 
sue them  in  their  distant  retreat. 

Such  were  some  of  the  difficulties  and  discour- 
agements attending  the  planting  of  the  first  colony 
at  Plymouth,  in  December,  1620.  The  news  like- 
wise, which  the  earliest  pilgrims  to  America  sent 
to  their  brethren  whom  they  had  left  behind,  must 
have  been  peculiarly  afflictive  and  disheartening. 
It  was  a  story  of  suffering  and  loss,  of  a  severe  cli- 
mate, of  an  unpromising  soil,  of  a  savage  popula- 
tion, of  sickness  and  of  death.  Still  there  were 
found  those,  who  were  willing  to  join  this  uninviting 
settlement;  and  its  numbers  gradually  increased. 
As  information  respecting  this  new  country  was 
more  widely  diffused,  multitudes  were  found  willing 
to  forego  their  enjoyments  in  England,  connected 
as  they  were  with  religious  intolerance;  and  to 
transport  themselves  into  a  wilderness  with  its  ac- 
companying privations  and  sufferings,  as  some  pros- 
pect was  here  held  out  to  them  of  instituting  com- 
munities, in  conformity  with  their  own  notions  of 
civil  and  religious  polity.  Accordingly  projects  of 
more  extensive  establishments  on  the  American 
coast,  were  soon  favored  by  persons  of  higher  rank, 
and  larger  fortunes.  An  expedition  originating  in 
this  way,  sailed  from  England  in  1628,  and  com- 
menced the  town  of  Salem  in  Massachusetts.     An- 


11 

other  expedition  still  larger,  in  the  year  1630, 
landed  at  Charlestown,  and  began  the  settlement 
of  Boston. 

Encouraged  by  the  partial  success  of  these  early 
adventurers,  a  new  company  for  emigration  was 
formed  in  England  in  the  year  1636,  chiefly  through 
the  efforts  of  Theophilus  Eaton,  John  Davenport 
and  Edward  Hopkins.  The  first  of  this  number, 
Theophilus  Eaton,  was  born  about  the  year  1590, 
in  Stony-Stratford  in  Oxfordshire ;  where,  says 
Mather,*  his  father  was  a  "  faithful  and  famous 
minister."  He  received  his  education  in  Coven- 
try, to  which  place  his  father  had  removed.  At 
school,  he  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
John  Davenport,  a  son  of  the  mayor  of  the  city, 
and  with  whom  he  was  afterwards  connected  in 
leading  a  colony  to  America.  The  parents  of  Ea- 
ton were  desirous,  that  he  should  follow  the  profes- 
sion of  his  father ;  but  his  own  inclinations  led  him 
to  engage  in  commerce.  Accordingly  he  was  made 
a  "freeman  of  London,"  entered  into  what  was 
called  the  "  east-country  trade,"f  that  is,  with  na- 
tions on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  was  chosen  dep- 
uty-governor of  the  company  of  merchants,  to  which 
he  belonged,  and  prosecuted  his  business  with  great 
success  and  reputation.  In  the  course  of  his  com- 
mercial transactions,  he  visited  the  northern  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  was  the  agent  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land at  the  court  of  Denmark;  and  the  concerns  of 
the  company  were  so  prosperous  under  his  manage- 
ment, that  he  received  from  his  associates  distin- 

*  Magnal.  Book  II.  26.  •  t  Note  A. 


12 

guished  marks  of  their  approbation.  "  He  arrived," 
says  Mather,  "  unto  a  fair  estate,"  was  connected 
by  a  second  marriage  with  a  daughter  of  the  bishop 
of  Chester,  and  "spent  many  years,"  according  to 
the  same  author,  "  a  merchant  of  great  credit  and 
fashion  in  the  city  of  London."  In  religion  he  was 
a  zealous  and  active  puritan.  That  he  took  an 
early  interest  in  the  emigrations  to  America,  ap- 
pears from  the  fact,  that  he  was  one  of  the  paten- 
tees of  Massachusetts ;  though  probably,  at  first,  he 
had  himself  no  intention  of  leaving  his  country. 

John  Davenport  was  born  in  the  year  1597,  and 
was  educated  at  the  university  of  Oxford ;  where 
he  received  the  degrees  of  Master  of  Arts,  and 
Bachelor  of  Divinity.  He  took  orders  in  the  church 
at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  was  a  minister  of  the 
establishment,  in  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Colman 
street,  London.  His  early  friend  Eaton  was  one 
of  his  parishioners.  How  soon  he  began  to  favor 
the  doctrines  of  the  puritans  cannot  now  be  as- 
certained; but  in  1626,  he  with  others,  was  con- 
cerned in  purchasing  lay  impropriations  in  the 
church,  which  proceeding  was  pronounced,  in  the 
Exchequer  chamber,  through  the  agency  of  Laud, 
illegal,  and  the  property  thus  acquired  was  confis- 
cated to  the  use  of  the  king.  Mr.  Davenport  con- 
tributed his  aid  towards  procuring  the  patent  of 
Massachusetts;  though  from  the  fear  of  creating 
opposition,  he  did  not  allow  his  name  to  appear 
among  the  patentees.  "  Yet  his  purse,"  says  Ma- 
ther,* "  was  in  it,  his  time  was  in  it,  and  he  con- 

*  Magna].  Book  III.  53. 


13 

tributed  unto  it  all  manner  of  assistances."  Before 
this  he  had  been  induced  to  inquire  into  the  rea- 
sons, why  a  man  of  the  eminence  of  John  Cotton 
should  deliberate  on  leaving  his  country  ;  and  in  this 
way  probably  became  acquainted  with  the  plans, 
which  were  in  progress  for  colonizing  New  Eng- 
land. By  such  a  course  of  conduct,  Mr.  Daven- 
port could  not  fail  to  come  under  the  censure  of  his 
diocesan ;  and  to  avoid  the  penalties,  to  which  he 
might  be  subjected,  he  assembled  the  principal 
members  of  his  parish,  and  obtained  their  consent, 
that  he  should  retire  to  Holland.  After  a  residence 
in  that  country  of  about  three  years,  he  returned  to 
London  to  unite  with  his  early  friend  Eaton  in  re- 
moving to  America. 

Edward  Hopkins,  the  remaining  individual  of 
those  just  mentioned,  as  taking  a  principal  part  in 
preparing  for  this  new  expedition,  was  a  native  of 
Shrewsbury,  and  born  about  the  year  1600.  He 
was  step-son  to  Mr.  Eaton,  like  him  had  acquired 
wealth  by  commerce,  and  was  not  less  deeply  im- 
bued with  the  principles  and  feelings  of  the  puri- 
tans. By  the  efforts  chiefly  of  these  three  men,  a 
company  was  formed  of  persons  of  standing  and 
property,  who  for  the  sake  of  religious  liberty,  were 
willing  to  forego  their  ease  and  affluence,  and  en- 
counter the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness. 

Let  us  here  stop,  and  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
nature  of  the  enterprise,  in  which  this  company 
was  about  to  engage.  The  knowledge  of  the  coast 
of  New  England  had  been  somewhat  extended, 
since  the  first  settlements  were  begun;  but  it  was 
still  too  imperfect  to  guide  to  any  important  prac- 


14 

tical  determinations.  The  colonies  of  Plymouth, 
of  Salem  and  of  Boston,  had  suffered  greatly  by 
sickness ;  the  prospect  of  a  profitable  commerce,  or 
even  of  obtaining  a  comfortable  subsistence,  was 
distant  and  faint ;  and  the  danger  from  the  native 
inhabitants  was  neither  unreal,  nor  considered  of 
little  importance.  These  obstacles,  however,  had 
in  part  lain  in  the  way  of  the  previous  adventurers. 
But  another  of  a  different  character  had  arisen, 
which  gave  to  the  enterprise  now  contemplated  the 
aspect  of  peculiar  hazard ;  and  which  would  have 
deterred  men  of  less  determined  minds  from  taking 
any  part  in  it;  even  if  all  discouragements  before 
existing  could  have  been  removed. 

The  early  colonists  had  hoped  to  retire  beyond 
the  reach,  or  to  escape  the  notice,  of  their  oppres- 
sors; but  this  expectation,  faint  at  first,  seemed 
now  to  have  vanished.  In  April,  of  the  year  1634, 
less  than  four  years  after  the  settlement  of  Boston, 
the  king,  Charles  I,  by  a  "  commission  for  regula- 
ting plantations,"  gave  archbishop  Laud  and  oth- 
ers, what  is  denominated,  "  power  of  protection  and 
government"  over  the  "  English  colonies  already 
planted,"  as  well  as  over  such  as  should  be  planted 
afterwards ;  and  authorized  them,  for  the  "  ease  and 
tranquillity"  of  the  colonists,  "to  make  laws,  ordi- 
nances and  constitutions,  concerning  either  the 
state  public  of  the  said  colonies,  or  utility  of  pri- 
vate persons,  and  their  lands,  goods,  debts,  and  suc- 
cession;" and  "  for  relief  and  support  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  rule  and  cure  of  the  souls  of  our  people  liv- 
ing in  those  parts,  and  for  consigning  of  convenient 
maintenance  unto  them  by  tythes,  oblations,  and 


15 

other  profits  accruing,  according  to  your  good  dis- 
cretion, with  the  advice  of  two  or  three  of  our  bish- 
ops, whom  you  shall  think  fit  to  call  unto  your  con- 
sultations, touching  the  distributions  of  such  main- 
tenance unto  the  clergy,  and  all  other  matters  eccle- 
siastical; and  to  inflict  punishment  upon  all  offen- 
ders or  violators  of  the  constitutions  and  ordinances, 
either  by  imprisonment  or  other  restraint,  or  by  loss 
of  life  or  member,  according  as  the  quality  of  the 
offense  shall  require."*  The  prospect,  therefore 
was,  that  if  they  should  establish  themselves  on  the 
remote  shores  of  America  at  whatever  hazard  and 
sacrifice,  they  would  be  invaded  in  their  retreat, 
by  the  very  power,  from  which  they  had  endeavored 
to  escape;  and  particularly,  that  they  would  be 
brought  under  the  same  religious  restraints,  as 
they  had  before  suffered,  or  even  those  of  still 
greater  rigor.  They  had  full  knowledge  of  the 
disposition  of  archbishop  Laud  towards  dissenters 
from  the  established  religion;  nor  could  they  doubt 
what  was  to  be  expected  from  commissioners  of 
whom  he  was  the  head,  armed  with  power  to  inflict 
on  non-conformists  in  the  colonies  "  loss  of  life  or 
member,"  according  to  their  discretion. 

Yet  notwithstanding  this  additional  cause  of  ap- 
prehension, a  large  company,  under  the  direction 
of  the  men  just  mentioned,  associated  for  removal 
to  New  England.  These  new  adventurers  were 
chiefly  Londoners ;  men  for  the  most  part,  whose 
business  had  been  commerce,  and  who  hoped  to 
establish  themselves  in  the  same  employment  in 

*  1  Hazard,  344.     Hubbard,  264. 


16 

America.  They  appear  to  have  determined,  be- 
fore leaving  England,  on  no  particular  place  for 
settlement;  but  sailed  for  Massachusetts,  reserving 
the  selection  of  a  place  of  abode,  till  after  their  ar- 
rival. The  company  embarked  in  two  ships,  taking 
with  them  a  large  amount  of  property,  and  a  num- 
ber of  persons  in  the  capacity  of  servants ;  and 
arrived  at  the  place  of  their  destination,  June  3d, 
1637.  They  were  very  favorably  received  by  their 
brethren,  who  had  gone  to  America  before  them. 
Inducements  were  held  out  to  the  company  to  fix 
their  residence  in  Boston;  and  likewise,  to  unite 
with  the  original  colony  at  Plymouth;  but  they 
most  probably  entertained  from  the  first,  a  wish  to 
begin,  if  possible,  a  new  settlement.  Perhaps  they 
were  not  altogether  pleased  with  the  state  of  things 
in  either  of  the  colonies  already  planted ;  and  it  is 
certain,  that  such  accommodations  as  they  looked 
for,  in  prosecuting  their  plans  of  trade,  could  not 
be  easily  found.  They  early  wrote  to  their  friends 
in  Hartford,  to  purchase  of  the  natives  an  exten- 
sive tract  of  country,  between  the  rivers  Connec- 
ticut and  Hudson;  but  I  find  no  evidence,  that  any 
purchase  of  this  kind  was  completed.  After  visit- 
ing various  places  on  the  coast,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Boston  and  Plymouth,  Mr.  Eaton,  in  Au- 
gust after  his  arrival,  in  company  with  several  oth- 
ers, made  a  journey  to  the  westward,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exploring  the  country  between  Connecticut 
river  and  the  Manhadoes,  now  New  York.  In  his 
tour,  he  came  to  this  place,  then  known  by  the 
name  of  Quinnipiac;  and  was  so  favorably  impres- 
sed by  its  appearance,  especially  as  a  site  for  a 


17 

commercial  town,  that  he  seems  to  have  soon  de- 
termined on  establishing  here  a  new  and  distinct 
colony.  Accordingly  he  left  a  few  men  on  this  spot 
for  the  winter,  probably  to  make  preparation  for  re- 
ceiving the  whole  company,  the  following  spring. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  1638,  Mr.  Eaton,  and 
Mr.  Davenport,  with  their  associates,  sailed  from 
Boston  for  Quinnipiac,  and  in  about  a  fortnight 
arrived  here  in  safety.  Of  the  particulars  of  this 
voyage  no  memorial  remains.  The  length  of  time 
which  it  occupied,  is  easily  accounted  for,  from  the 
necessity  of  caution  in  sailing  on  a  coast,  which 
had  been  so  little  explored.  The  first  sabbath  after 
their  landing,  which  on  highly  probable  grounds, 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  fifteenth  of  April,*  old 
style,  corresponding,  according  to  our  present  mode 
of  reckoning  time,  to  the  twenty  fifth  of  the  same 
month,  was  celebrated  under  a  large  oak,  near 
where  College  and  George  streets  now  intersect 
each  other ;  and  here  this  assembly  of  exiles,  about 
to  establish  themselves  in  what  they  considered 
and  called  the  "  ends  of  the  earth,"  was  addressed 
by  their  pastor  on  the  "  temptations  of  the  wilder- 
ness." At  the  present  time,  familiar  as  we  are 
with  the  scenes  which  surround  us,  it  is  difficult, 
perhaps  impossible,  to  enter  fully  into  the  circum- 
stances of  this  little  band;  and  to  sympathize  with 
them  in  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  hopes  and 
fears.  Imagine  yourselves  transported  to  some  dis- 
tant region  on  the  North-West  coast  of  this  conti- 
nent, or  on  the  shores  of  New  Holland,  ignorant  in 

*  Note  B, 


18 

a  great  degree  of  the  country,  surrounded  by  sav- 
ages of  doubtful  friendship,  with  no  sure  prospect  of 
long  obtaining  the  means  of  support,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  your  native  country  apparently  resolved 
on  defeating  the  very  object,  for  which,  with  so 
many  sacrifices,  you  had  abandoned  your  homes ; 
what,  in  such  a  case,  would  be  your  anxieties,  your 
apprehensions,  and  your  efforts  ?  Or,  to  take  an- 
other view  of  this  subject, — what  would  induce  you 
to  enter  on  so  bold  and  so  desperate  an  adventure  ? 
Would  any  prospect  of  gain,  or  of  reputation? 
Nothing  within  the  range  of  probability  would  draw 
you  to  encounter  such  peril  as  is  here  presented,  ex- 
cept that  ardent  religious  zeal  which  actuated  and 
supported  the  early  colonists  of  New  England. 

The  first  subject  which  engaged  the  attention  of 
these  exiles  on  their  arrival,  was  the  instituting  of 
a  government  to  regulate  their  concerns.  The  col- 
ony at  Plymouth,  in  organizing  their  civil  state,  ac- 
knowledged themselves  the  subjects  of  king  James. 
The  government  of  Massachusetts  acted  under  the 
authority  of  a  royal  charter.  The  first  emigrants 
to  Connecticut  considered  themselves  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts ;  till  after  the  settle- 
ment of  three  towns,  they  formed  themselves  into 
an  independent  body  politic.  The  first  planters  of 
New  Haven,  recognized  in  their  acts  no  human 
authority  foreign  to  themselves.  They  appear  to 
have  studiously  avoided  any  mention  of  their  native 
country ;  or  any  allusion  to  the  question  of  allegi- 
ance to  the  king  of  England.  This  matter  they 
left  to  be  determined  afterwards  as  circumstances 
should  render  a  decision  expedient  or  necessary. 


19 

As  they  were  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Massachu- 
setts patent,  no  reason  existed  for  placing  them- 
selves under  the  jurisdiction  of  that  colony.  They 
were,  therefore,  according  to  their  own  view,  in 
many  important  respects,  in  what  philosophers  have 
called  a  state  of  nature,  independent  individuals, 
subject  to  no  authority,  but  such  as  they  should 
create  by  voluntary  compact.  Accordingly,  soon 
after  their  arrival  at  Quinnipiac,  at  the  close  of  a 
"  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,"  they  formed  and  sub- 
scribed what  they  denominated  a  "  plantation  cove- 
nant." By  this  instrument  they  engaged,  "that  as 
in  matters  that  concern  the  gathering  and  ordering 
of  a  church,  so  also  in  all  public  offices,  which  con- 
cern civil  order,  as  choice  of  magistrates,  and  offi- 
cers, making  and  repealing  laws,  dividing  allotments 
of  inheritance,  and  all  things  of  like  nature,  they 
would  all  of  them  be  ordered  by  the  rules,  which 
the  scripture  held  forth  to  them."*  This  may  be 
considered  the  original  civil  constitution  of  the  New 
Haven  colony.  It  was  brief  but  comprehensive, 
embracing  what  the  state  of  the  colonists  imme- 
diately required;  and  in  its  terms  and  provisions 
must  have  been  well  understood,  by  each  individual 
concerned  in  its  formation. 

Here  we  cannot  but  remark  the  entirely  prac- 
tical character,  which  the  whole  of  this  transaction 
wears.  No  attempt  is  here  made  to  frame  specific 
regulations  to  meet  the  circumstances  of  a  com- 
munity so  new,  and  the  exigencies  of  which  they 
were  so  little  able  to  foresee ;  nor  is  there  for  their 

*  Col.  Records. 


20 

general  direction  in  deciding  such  controversies  as 
might  arise,  reference  to  a  code  of  laws  of  which 
they  were  ignorant,  or  with  which  they  were  im- 
perfectly acquainted.  It  was  the  intention  of  the 
leaders  of  the  colony,  without  doubt  from  the  first, 
to  make  the  bible  the  ground-work  of  their  legisla- 
tion; but  in  the  temper  and  feeling  with  which 
these  emigrants  had  left  their  native  country,  they 
might  also  have  apprehended,  that  any  recognition 
of  the  laws  of  England,  however  qualified,  would 
lead  to  the  introduction  of  English  supremacy,  and 
their  own  ultimate  subjection  to  the  very  tyranny 
from  which  they  had  fled.  To  the  scriptures,  as  a 
general  guide  in  the  administration  of  justice,  there 
could  be,  in  their  minds,  no  such  objection.  No 
one  would  fear  danger  under  a  polity  where  every 
controversy  was  to  be  determined  by  rules  easily 
accessible ;  and  which  all  believed  themselves  able 
to  comprehend  and  apply.  The  government  thus 
instituted,  was,  in  fact,  a  pure  democracy,  profes- 
sedly controlled  by  the  great  principles  of  justice 
and  equity ;  as  these  principles  are  illustrated  in 
the  book  of  revelation.  The  ready  adoption,  there- 
fore, of  such  a  plan  of  government  as  this,  by  an 
assemblage  of  individuals,  with  the  opinions,  and 
in  the  situation  of  the  first  New  Haven  colonists, 
was  a  matter  of  course. 

What  magistrates  were  appointed  under  this 
early  regimen,  we  have  no  means  of  determining. 
Any  civil  organization  at  this  period  must  have 
been  of  the  most  primitive  kind;  and  all  questions 
of  importance  were  probably  settled  in  a  general 
meeting  of  the  planters.     The  first  great  measure 


21 

for  consideration  must  have  been  the  acquisition  of 
a  proper  title  to  the  land  which  they  wished  to  oc- 
cupy. The  actual  possessors  of  the  soil,  though 
holding  it  only  as  a  place  of  occasional  hunting  and 
fishing,  they  considered  its  rightful  owners ;  and  of 
these  they  made  a  fair  purchase  of  as  much  land  as 
they  needed  at  the  outset.  In  November,  after  the 
arrival  of  the  colony,  the  chiefs  of  the  native  tribe 
dwelling  on  this  ground,  conveyed  to  Theophilus 
Eaton,  John  Davenport  and  others,  their  heirs  and 
assigns  forever,  the  plain  west  of  the  river  Q,uin- 
nipiac.  For  this  the  colonists  gave  what  both  par- 
ties undoubtedly  considered  a  fair  equivalent,  in 
clothing,  and  in  agricultural  and  domestic  utensils; 
the  Indians  stipulating  for  the  privilege  of  retiring 
within  the  English  lines,  if  attacked  by  their  ene- 
mies, and  retaining  the  right  of  hunting  and  fishing 
as  before.  No  calculation  which  either  party  could 
make  at  the  time,  would  put  upon  the  land  a  higher 
value,  than  the  actual  estimate.  It  is  as  much  as 
we  should  be  willing  to  give  for  an  equal  territory, 
perhaps  it  is  even  more,  if  we  were  now  in  like  cir- 
cumstances on  the  shores  of  New  Zealand.  Simi- 
lar purchases  were  subsequently  made,  and  there 
is  abundant  record  evidence,  that  all  the  lands  of 
the  colony  were  purchased  on  just  and  equitable 
conditions;  and  it  does  not  appear,  that  any  impor- 
tant controversy  with  the  Indians,  on  this  subject, 
ever  existed.  We  must  come  to  later  times,  and 
extend  our  inquiries  to  other  parts  of  the  country, 
if  we  would  find  instances  of  overreaching  and 
fraud,  in  transactions  for  lands  with  the  native  in- 
habitants.    It  deserves  also  to  be  here  distinctly 


22 

stated,  that  though  there  may  have  been  some 
slight  disagreements  between  the  new  settlers  and 
the  original  occupants  of  the  soil,  and  the  latter 
may  have  in  a  few  instances  manifested  a  hostile 
disposition,  yet  there  never  was  an  open  war  be- 
tween the  native  Indians  and  the  English  in  the 
New  Haven  colony ;  which  fact  Hubbard  ascribes 
to  a  "  due  carefulness,"  on  the  part  of  the  colonists, 
"  in  doing  justice  to  them  upon  all  occasions."* 
The  treatment  of  the  savages  of  Pennsylvania  by 
William  Penn,  was  not  a  whit  more  equitable  or 
kind,  than  that  showed  the  native  inhabitants  of 
this  spot.  The  distinguishing  policy  of  Penn,  in 
his  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  consisted  in  this, 
that  he  allowed  no  lands  to  be  purchased  of  them, 
except  on  account  of  the  government;  the  very 
course  pursued  here.t 

The  laying  out  of  the  town,  and  preparing  means 
of  defense  against  any  attack  from  the  savages, 
must  have  early  commanded  the  attention  of  the 
colonists.  As  to  the  plan  which  was  adopted  for 
streets,  for  a  public  square,  convenient  access  to 
the  harbor,  and  communication  with  the  surround- 
ing country,  the  sound  judgment  exercised  is  every 
where  visible ;  nor,  do  I  suppose,  that  any  import- 
ant change,  in  these  respects,  would  be  made,  if 
after  the  experience  of  two  centuries,  we  could  di- 
rect what  the  original  design  should  have  been.J  As 
to  defense  against  the  native  tribes,  if  they  should 
prove  hostile;  some  protection,  for  checking  any 
sudden  aggression  on  their  part,  and  giving  confi- 

*  322.  t  Note  C.  t  Note  D. 


23 

dence  to  the  new  settlers,  was  indispensable.  It 
does  not  appear,  that  the  tribes  of  Indians,  dwell- 
ing in  the  vicinity,  showed  any  jealousy  of  the  col- 
onists, or  were  more  than  usually  irritable  or  war- 
like ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  evidently  a  people 
of  mild  and  gentle  disposition,  altogether  inclined 
to  afford  the  strangers  a  friendly  reception,  and 
looking  to  them  as  allies,  rather  than  as  enemies. 
But  the  friendly  feelings  of  uncivilized  nations, 
however  strongly  manifested,  are  to  be  relied  upon 
with  caution.  To  guard,  therefore,  against  sur- 
prise or  sudden  attack,  the  town  was  surrounded 
with  palisades;  and  strong  gates  were  made  at 
the  entrances  of  the  place,  which  were  guarded 
every  night  with  great  strictness. 

We  may  suppose,  that  the  planters  of  our  town, 
in  addition  to  instituting  a  government  of  the  sim- 
plest form,  obtaining  a  title  to  their  lands,  and  in- 
closing themselves  by  a  rude  fortification,  passed 
the  first  summer  in  erecting  a  few  buildings  which 
might  afford  a  shelter  from  the  approaching  win- 
ter, and  making  a  beginning  in  cultivating  the 
ground.  Having  thus  brought  their  affairs  into  a 
state  of  comparative  order  and  comfort,  in  June  of 
the  following  year,  they  entered  upon  the  subject 
of  reorganizing  their  civil  state ;  or  what  in  modern 
language  would  be  called,  forming  a  new  constitu- 
tion. From  our  relation  to  the  men  engaged  in 
this  transaction,  and  as  the  business  of  making 
constitutions  of  government,  was,  at  that  time,  a 
novelty  in  the  world,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting 
to  look,  with  some  particularity,  at  the  mode  of 
proceeding  then  adopted,  as  well  as  at  what  was 


24 

done,  in  laying  the  foundations  of  a  commonwealth. 
The  meeting  for  this  purpose  was  in  a  new  barn 
built  by  Mr.  Newman,  one  of  the  principal  colo- 
nists. To  this  council,  the  decisions  of  which  were 
to  be  so  important  to  the  new  community,  all  the 
free  planters  were  admitted.  Here  then,  at  the 
outset,  was  a  practical  recognition  of  the  principle, 
that  the  true  foundation  of  government  is  in  the 
consent  of  the  governed. 

No  reference  direct  or  indirect,  was  made  by  those 
concerned  in  this  transaction,  to  their  native  coun- 
try.    As  at  the  time  the  colonists  signed  their  plan- 
tation covenant,  so  now,  they  seem  to  have  sup- 
posed, that  since  they  were  in  fact  beyond  the  ac- 
tual control  of  any  existing  sovereignty,  they  had 
a  perfect  right  to  institute  a  government  for  them- 
selves.    The  business  of  the  meeting,  in  conform- 
ity to  the  views  of  those  assembled,  and  to  the  pro- 
priety of  the  case,  was  introduced  by  prayer ;  and 
Mr.  Davenport  proposed   various   queries   to   the 
planters,  and  urged  them  "  to  consider  seriously  in 
the  presence  and  fear  of  God,  the  weight  of  the  bu- 
siness they  met  about,  and  not  to  be  rash  or  slight 
in  giving  their  votes  to  things  they  understood  not,* 
but  to  digest  fully  and  thoroughly  what  should  be 
propounded  to  them,  and  without  respect  to  men, 
as  they  should  be  satisfied  and  persuaded  in  their 
own  minds,  to  give  their  answers  in  such  sort,  as 
they  should  be  willing  should  stand  upon  record  for 
posterity."    They  then  unanimously  assented  to  the 
proposition,  "that  the  scriptures  do  hold  forth  a 
perfect  rule  for  the  direction  and  government  of  all 
men  in  all  duties,  which  they  are  to  perform  to  God 


25 

and  men,  as  well  in  families  and  commonwealth,  as 
in  matters  of  the  church."  After  this,  they  renewed 
their  assent  to  their  plantation  covenant ;  and 
among  other  fundamental  regulations  adopted  this, 
which  was  by  far  the  most  important,  "  that  church 
members  only  shall  be  free  burgesses,  and  that  they 
only  shall  choose  magistrates  and  officers  among 
themselves,  to  have  power  of  transacting  all  the 
public  civil  affairs  of  the  plantation ;  of  making 
and  repealing  laws,  dividing  inheritances,  deciding 
differences  that  may  arise,  and  "  doing  all  things 
and  businesses  of  like  nature."  This  article  of  the 
new  constitution  was  objected  to  by  one  individual; 
who,  however,  after  some  explanations  by  Mr.  Ea- 
ton and  others,  withdrew  his  opposition,  and,  per- 
haps, united  with  the  rest  of  the  assembly,  in  admit- 
ting this  provision  as  a  part  of  their  political  system. 
The  limitation  of  the  right  of  voting  and  of  hold- 
ing public  offices  to  church  members,  was  obviously 
a  favorite  measure  with  Mr.  Eaton,  Mr.  Davenport 
and  other  leading  men  of  the  colony;  and  what  they 
designed  from  the  first  to  make  the  foundation  of 
their  civil  polity.  The  same  regulation  had  before 
been  adopted  in  Massachusetts;  and  it  was,  in  fact, 
the  same  in  principle  as  the  English  law,  which 
has  been  repealed  within  a  few  years  only,  by 
which  receiving  the  sacrament,  in  the  established 
church,  was  a  necessary  qualification  for  holding 
any  office  under  government.  The  planters  were 
persuaded  that  a  christian  community  ought  to  be 
governed  on  christian  principles;  and  to  secure 
this  important  object,  they  believed  it  necessary  to 
confine  all  participation  in  public  transactions  to 

4 


26 

those,  who  had  expressly  recognized  those  princi- 
ples, and  professed  to  make  them  the  rule  of  their 
lives. 

Mr.  Davenport,*  however,  was  far  from  adopting 
the  opinion,  that  church  members,  as  citizens, 
should  be  invested  by  law  with  exclusive  privileges. 
On  the  contrary,  he  fully  maintained,  that  none 
should  be  excluded  "  from  any  civil  right  or  liberty, 
that  is  due  to  them  as  inhabitants  and  planters," 
and  that  all  should  have  "the  benefit  of  justice  un- 
der the  government  where  they  live."  To  make 
distinctions  here,  he  said,  "  were,  indeed,  to  have 
the  commonwealth  swallowed  up  of  the  church." 
He  held  likewise,  that  there  is  a  great  difference 
"  between  a  commonwealth  already  settled,  and  a 
commonwealth  yet  to  be  settled,  and  wherein  men 
are  free  to  choose  what  form  they  shall  judge  best." 
In  the  latter  case,  he  would  limit  political  rights  to 
church  members,  if  possible ;  but  that  a  majority 
should  control  in  settling  the  qualifications  of  vo- 
ters, he  readily  admitted.  Whoever  affirmed  the 
contrary,  and  defended  the  inherent  right  of  the 
church  to  exercise  the  powers  of  government,  was, 
according  to  John  Davenport,  a  more  fit  subject 
for  physic  than  for  argument. 

What  the  planters  had  in  view,  may  be  appro- 
ved, without  admitting  the  propriety  of  the  means 
adopted  for  accomplishing  their  purpose.  They 
wished  to  secure  honesty  and  integrity  in  the  pub- 
lic service;  to  bring  the  best  men  into  office;  those 
who  would  well  understand   the  public  good,  and 

Note  E. 


27 

undeviatingly  pursue  it.  That  so  desirable  an  end 
could  be  attained  without  some  limitation  on  the 
right  of  suffrage,  they  did  not  believe.  All  restric- 
tions on  this  right,  whether  of  age,  residence,  prop- 
erty or  rank,  are  defensible  only  as  they  afford  se- 
curities for  an  intelligent  and  honest  exercise  of  so 
important  a  privilege.  If  such  restrictions  fail 
here,  they  are  unjust  and  oppressive.  The  colo- 
nists, like  other  founders  of  states,  aimed  to  ascer- 
tain the  character  of  those,  who  were  to  vote  for 
public  functionaries.  They  were  aware,  that  such 
as  are  the  electors,  such  ultimately  will  be  those 
who  are  elected,  to  administer  the  government. 
Hence  the  solicitude  so  strongly  manifested  by  the 
first  colonists  of  New  Haven  in  executing  what 
they  denominated  their  "  foundation  work."  If  this 
should  be  firm,  they  had  little  apprehension  about 
the  superstructure. 

The  opinion  of  the  planters  as  to  the  correspond- 
ence between  the  character  of  laws,  and  the  char- 
acter of  those  who  make  them,  was  obviously  the 
same  as  that  of  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania.  "  Gov- 
ernments," says  William  Penn,  "  rather  depend 
upon  men,  then  men  upon  governments.  Let  men 
be  good,  and  the  government  cannot  be  bad ;  if  it 
be  ill,  they  will  cure  it.  But  if  men  be  bad,  let  the 
government  be  never  so  good,  they  will  endeavor 
to  warp  and  spoil  it  to  their  turn.  I  know  some 
say,  let  us  have  good  laws,  and  no  matter  for  the 
men  that  execute  them :  but  let  them  consider,  that 
though  good  laws  do  well,  good  men  do  better ;  for 
good  laws  may  want  good  men,  and  be  abolished 
or  evaded  by  ill  men;   but  good  men  never  want 


28 

good  laws,  nor  suffer  ill  ones.  It  is  true,  good  laws 
have  some  awe  upon  ill  ministers,  but  that  is  where 
they  have  not  power  to  escape  or  abolish  them,  and 
the  people  are  generally  wise  and  good;  but  a  loose 
and  depraved  people  love  laws  and  an  administra- 
tion like  themselves."*  It  was  from  a  firm  belief 
of  truths  like  these,  that  the  puritans  of  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Haven  determined  to  confine  the 
privilege  of  voting  and  of  holding  civil  office  to 
church  members. 

There  was  undoubtedly,  in  the  peculiar  danger 
to  which  the  colony  was  exposed,  an  additional  rea- 
son for  limiting  political  privileges.  Religious  im- 
munities, such  as  the  colonists  possessed,  and  which 
had  been  acquired  by  so  great  sacrifices,  were  con- 
sidered as  claiming  the  highest  consideration,  or 
rather  as  involving  every  other  interest;  and  it  was 
not  unnatural  in  these  circumstances,  that  some 
way  should  be  sought  after,  which  might  exclude 
from  direct  participation  in  the  government  all 
who  might  be  supposed  to  favor  the  ecclesiastical 
domination  of  the  parent  country.  For  this  end, 
no  plan  probably  appeared  to  the  planters  more 
effectual,  than  to  confine  the  right  of  voting  and  of 
holding  office  to  individuals  of  their  own  commun- 
ion. They  were  founding  what  they  designed  to  be 
a  strictly  christian  commonwealth,  and  took  what 
appeared  to  them  the  surest  means  of  guarding  it 
from  declension.  Such  an  enterprise  they  thought 
it  possible  to  achieve ;  or,  at  least,  they  were  will- 
ing to  try  the  experiment.     As  they  were  finally 

*  Proud'a  Hist,  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  II.  Append.  II. 


29 

unanimous  in  admitting  the  provision  in  question 
into  their  constitution,  there  was  no  one  of  that  gen- 
eration, who  could  reasonably  complain. 

But  with  the  more  full  opportunity  which  we 
have  had  of  observing  the  operation  of  popular  gov- 
ernments, there  is  no  difficulty  in  seeing,  that  the 
colonists,  however  correct  may  have  been  their  in- 
tentions, adopted  a  rule  for  determining  the  quali- 
fications of  voters,  which,  as  a  permanent  measure, 
was  likely  to  promote  neither  their  civil  nor  eccle- 
siastical interests.  The  test  promised  much  more 
than  it  could  accomplish.  Hardly  any  truth  has 
been  more  fully  confirmed  by  the  experience  of 
mankind,  than  that  religious  professions,  like  pro- 
fessions of  patriotism,  may  be  the  loudest,  where 
there  is  the  least  of  the  principle  from  which  they 
can  honestly  proceed.  Mere  declarations,  when 
employed  as  a  check  upon  avarice  and  ambition, 
are  of  little  worth.  They  serve  often  to  embarrass 
the  fair-minded  and  sincere;  while  they  afford  a 
convenient  cloak  for  the  designing.  This  abridg- 
ment of  the  right  of  suffrage  was  continued  till  the 
dissolution  of  the  colony.  It  became,  however, 
more  and  more  the  subject  of  complaint  and  con- 
troversy ;  and  would  probably  have  been  abrogated 
within  a  few  years,  if  it  had  not  ceased  to  exist  by 
the  union  of  New  Haven  with  Connecticut. 

After  the  completion  of  the  fundamental  agree- 
ment, the  organization  of  the  government  followed. 
The  mode  of  proceeding  in  this  important  part  of 
the  civil  arrangements  of  the  planters,  is  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  individuals  concerned,  and  seems 
so  well  to  illustrate  the  principles  by  which  they 


30 

were  guided,  that,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  it  merits 
our  particular  attention.  For  the  purpose  of  se- 
lecting fit  members  for  the  beginning  of  a  church 
and  of  a  civil  state,  the  town  was  divided  into  dis- 
tricts. In  each  of  these  districts,  one  who  was  con- 
sidered the  most  suitable  person  to  belong  to  the 
church,  which  was  to  be  constituted,  was  selected 
and  nominated  for  this  purpose.  The  individuals 
thus  named  in  these  private  assemblies,  were  au- 
thorized to  meet  and  reduce  their  number  to  twelve; 
and  these  again  from  their  body  to  choose  seven, 
who  were  to  stand  as  the  original  church  members. 
These  district  assemblies  were  accordingly  held, 
prayers  were  offered,  the  christian  character  of 
candidates  was  investigated,  and  seven  individuals 
having  passed  this  ordeal,  were  nominated  as  the 
constituent  members  of  the  first  church.*  With 
these  men,  therefore,  was  placed,  by  the  voluntary 
act  of  the  planters,  all  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
power  of  the  new  commonwealth.  Others  they  ad- 
mitted to  their  franchise,  or  excluded  from  it,  as 
they  judged  them  qualified  for  admission  to  the 
privileges  of  the  church.  Property  was  not  requi- 
red to  constitute  a  voter.  Personal  character,  as 
developed  in  the  attainment  of  church-membership, 
was  the  only  ground  on  which  any  individual  was 
admitted  to  the  exercise  of  political  power.  Such 
was  the  first  fully  organized  government  of  the 
town  of  New  Haven. 

But  though  this  constitutional  act,  or,  as  it  was 
called,  "  fundamental  agreement,"  was  adopted  in 

*  Note  F. 


31 

June,  1639,  the  first  election  under  its  provisions 
was  not  held  till  the  25th  of  October  of  the  same 
year.  At  this  time  Theophilus  Eaton  was  chosen 
magistrate,  and  four  other  persons  were  chosen 
deputies.  To  these  were  added  a  public  notary 
and  a  marshal;  all  being  elected  for  one  year. 
This  was  the  entire  civil  establishment.  Among 
the  first  acts  of  the  new  government,  was  an  order, 
"  that  a  meeting-house  be  built  forthwith,"  and 
"  that  the  carpenters  fell  timber  where  they  can 
find  it."  A  committee  was  appointed  "  to  have  the 
disposing  of  all  the  house-lots  yet  undisposed  of;" 
and  "  that  none  shall  come  to  dwell  as  planters 
here  without  their  consent  and  allowance."  Vig- 
orous measures  were  taken  for  arming  the  planters 
for  defense  against  any  attack  by  the  savages.  It 
was  likewise  "  ordered,  that  no  planter  or  planters 
shall  make  purchase  of  any  lands  or  plantations 
from  the  Indians  or  others,  for  their  own  private 
use  or  advantage,  but  in  the  name  and  for  the  use 
of  the  whole  plantation." 

As  to  the  division  of  lands,  it  was  ordered,  after 
each  of  the  planters  had  made  a  representation  of 
his  property,  that  "  every  planter  in  the  town  shall 
have  a  proportion  of  land,  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  estate  which  he  hath  given  in,  and  number 
of  heads  in  his  family."  The  advance,  which  might 
be  made  by  retailers  on  "  commodities  bought  in 
England,"  or  introduced  into  the  colony  from  "Vir- 
ginia, the  Bay,  or  Connecticut,"  and  the  price  at 
which  venison  should  be  sold,  was  regulated  by  a 
public  order.  The  price  of  labor  of  all  kinds  was 
likewise  fixed  by  law.     A  watch  was  kept  every 


32 

night  with  great  strictness,  and  an  order  was  issued, 
"  that  every  man  appointed  to  watch,  whether  mas- 
ters or  servants,  shall  come  every  Lord's  day  to  the 
meeting  completely  armed,  and  all  others  also  are 
to  bring  their  swords ;  no  man  exempted,  save  Mr. 
Eaton,  the  pastor,  [Mr.  Davenport,]  Mr.  James,  Mr. 
Samuel  Eaton,  [who  were  also  ministers,]  and  two 
deacons."  Various  other  similar  regulations  were 
adopted,  originating  in  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  colony,  and  illustrative  of  the  condition  of  an 
infant  settlement  in  the  wilderness,  and  surrounded 
by  savages.  In  September  of  the  year  1640,  the 
town  was  first  called  New  Haven. 

Within  a  few  years,  several  other  towns  in  the 
neighborhood,  in  which  settlements  had  been  begun, 
as  Milford,  Guilford,  Branford,  Stamford,  and  South- 
hold  on  Long  Island,  united  with  New  Haven,  and 
adopted  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  govern- 
ment. Their  magistrates  and  deputies,  with  those 
of  New  Haveiij  formed  the  General  Court  of  the  col- 
ony. In  each  town,  certain  "  fit  and  able  men"  were 
declared  to  be  the  ordinary  judges,  who  with  the  ma- 
gistrates held  what  was  called  a  plantation  court,  in 
which  civil  causes  might  be  tried,  when  the  sum  in 
controversy  did  not  exceed  twenty  shillings;  and  all 
criminal  cases,  when  the  punishment  "  according  to 
the  mind  of  God  revealed  in  his  word,"  did  not  ex- 
ceed "  stocking  and  whipping ;"  or  if  the  fine  was 
pecuniary,  that  it  "  exceed  not  five  pounds."  Ap- 
peals might  be  made  from  the  plantation  courts,  to 
the  court  of  magistrates  of  the  whole  jurisdiction. 
The  general  interests  of  the  colony  were  superin- 
tended and  provided  for  by  the  General  Court  or 


33 

legislature.  On  the  union  of  these  towns  in  1643, 
Mr.  Eaton  was  first  designated  by  the  title  of  gov- 
ernor. As  no  detailed  plan  for  constituting  the 
magistracy  was  to  be  found  in  the  "fundamental 
agreement,"  changes  were  made  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  government  by  the  General  Court,  when- 
ever they  were  judged  necessary ;  but  there  seems 
never  to  have  been  any  reference  to  the  planters  in 
the  several  towns,  or  to  a  convention,  to  sanction 
these  alterations.  The  wishes  of  the  people  as  made 
known  through  their  representatives,  and  their  sub- 
sequent acquiescence,  were  probably  thought  a  suf- 
ficient confirmation  of  what  was  done. 

The  course  of  legal  proceedings  in  the  New  Ha- 
ven colony  was  peculiar ;  especially  as  the  courts 
conducted  all  trials  without  a  jury.  We  are  told 
by  Hubbard,  in  his  history  of  New  England,  that 
this  exclusion  of  juries  was  a  measure  urged  by 
Governor  Eaton,  whom  he  calls  "  a  great  reader 
and  traveller."*  It  is  probable,  that  this  gentle- 
man, during  his  residence  in  the  north  of  Europe, 
where  the  institution  of  juries  is  unknown,  formed 
a  favorable  opinion  of  the  courts  of  those  coun- 
tries ;  and  as  New  Haven  was,  in  some  respects, 
an  experimental  colony,  he  wished  to  conform  the 
courts  in  this  new  settlement,  so  far  at  least  as  a 
jury  was  concerned,  to  a  favorite  model.  Legal 
proceedings  were  almost  entirely  free  from  forms 
and  technicalities ;  the  parties  told  their  own  sto- 
ries, with  very  little  check  from  the  court ;  intro- 
duced such  evidence,  for  the  most  part,  as  they 


320. 


34 

pleased;  argued  with  the  judges;  and  decisions 
were  given  according  to  what  appeared  to  be  the 
equity  of  the  case.  Full  records  of  trials,  both 
civil  and  criminal,  which  took  place  at  this  period, 
are  preserved,  which  furnish  a  very  distinct  and 
graphic  view  of  the  state  of  the  colony,  and  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants. 

Under  this  simple  form  of  government,  the  col- 
ony continued  till  1655;  very  few  laws  having 
been  enacted,  and  the  courts  being  guided  in  their 
decisions  by  the  general  principles  of  justice  and 
equity,  with  such  illustrations  as  could  be  drawn 
from  the  scriptures.  In  1655,  Governor  Eaton  was 
requested  by  the  General  Court  to  compile  a  code 
of  laws  for  the  colony ;  and  that  he  might  the  bet- 
ter accomplish  this  undertaking,  the  court  recom- 
mended, that  he  should  consult  Mr.  Cotton's  Dis- 
course on  civil  government  in  a  new  plantation, 
and  the  laws  of  Massachusetts.  Whether  any  dis- 
satisfaction had  been  expressed  by  the  people,  that 
the  courts  were  left  so  much  to  their  own  discre- 
tion, or  whether  it  was  their  wish  only,  as  in  some 
other  cases,  to  conform  more  exactly  to  the  exam- 
ple of  Massachusetts,  is  a  matter  of  conjecture. 
The  expediency,  however,  of  such  a  code  cannot  be 
doubted.  The  work  having  been  completed,  it  was 
first  examined  and  approved  by  the  elders  of  the 
jurisdiction,  and  afterwards  accepted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court.  It  was  printed  in  England  under  the 
inspection  of  Governor  Hopkins,  and  in  1656,  dis- 
tributed through  the  colony. 

These  laws,  in  connection  with  the  recorded  de- 
cisions of  the  courts,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken, 


35 

have  been  a  fruitful  topic  of  remark  by  two  classes 
of  persons ;  those  who  have  wished  to  represent  the 
puritans  in  the  most  forbidding  and  even  odious 
character,  and  those  who  have  considered  them 
the  proper  subjects  of  satire  and  ridicule.  What- 
ever is  absurd  or  frivolous,  or  thought  to  be  ultra-pu- 
ritanical in  government,  has  been  most  liberally 
charged  upon  the  New  Haven  legislation;  and 
thousands  have  believed  implicitly  in  the  existence 
of  the  "  blue  laws,"  who  could  scarcely  be  said  to 
have  any  other  article  of  faith.*  To  much  of  this 
calumny  and  vulgar  wit,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  suffi- 
cient to  reply  in  the  language  of  the  defenders  of 
New  England  in  1642.  "  Some,"  say  they,  "  have 
been  punished  for  their  delinquencies,  or  restrained 
for  their  exorbitancies,  or  discountenanced  for  their 
ill  opinions,  and  not  suffered  to  vent  their  stuff; 
and  hence  being  displeased,  take  revenge  by  slan- 
derous report."t  But  on  an  occasion  like  the  pres- 
ent, when  the  proceedings  and  characters  of  the 
founders  of  this  colony  are  brought  directly  under 
review ;  it  may  not  be  improper, — it  is  rather  an 
incumbent  duty, — to  inquire  a  little  more  particu- 
larly, into  the  provisions  of  this  early  code,  that  we 
may  see,  whether  here,  or  any  where  else,  there  is 
proper  ground  for  a  very  common  impression  on 
this  subject. 

The  "fundamental  agreement"  of  June,  1639, 
contained  little  more,  than  a  determination  of  the 
question,  to  what  class  of  persons  the  right  of  vo- 
ting and  of  holding  any  office  in  the  colony  should 

*  Note  G.  t  1  Mass.  Hist.  Col.  250. 


36 

appertain.  What  had  been  enacted,  from  time  to 
time,  by  the  General  Court  for  instituting  the  ma- 
gistracy, and  the  courts  of  justice,  and  for  fixing  the 
times  of  electing  public  officers,  and  which  had 
been  found,  on  trial,  to  be  expedient,  was  now  estab- 
lished, "  as  a  foundation  for  government,  though  it 
was  foreseen  and  agreed,  that  the  circumstantials 

therein might  after  be  considered,  continued  and 

altered,  as  might  best  suit  the  course  of  justice  and 
the  conveniency  of  the  plantations."  The  whole 
system  was  highly  democratical;  and  its  perma- 
nency was  based  on  the  character  of  the  people, 
and  on  annual  elections.  It  was  made  the  duty  of 
the  legislature,  among  other  things,  "  to  provide  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  purity  of  religion,  and  sup- 
press the  contrary,"  "  to  require  an  oath  from  all 
the  magistrates,"  "  to  call  them  to  an  account  for 
the  breach  of  any  laws  established,  or  for  other  mis- 
demeanors in  their  places,"  to  impose  an  oath  of 
fidelity  on  all  "freemen,  planters,  and  inhabitants, 
fit  to  take  an  oath,"  to  order  "  such  works  and  for- 
tifications, as  they  conceived  might  tend  to  the  bet- 
ter defense  of  the  colony,"  "to  regulate  trade,"  to 
lay  taxes,  and  to  hear  and  determine  causes,  civil 
or  criminal  in  the  last  resort. 

On  examining  the  more  particular  laws,  one  of 
the  first  things  which  strikes  us,  is  a  general  enact- 
ment, intended,  without  doubt,  as  a  concise  decla- 
ration of  the  object  and  character  of  the  whole  sys- 
tem. It  is  in  these  words.  "  It  is  ordered  by  this 
court  and  the  authority  thereof,  that  no  man's  life 
shall  be  taken  away,  no  man's  honor  or  good  name 
shall  be  stained,  no  man's  person  shall  be  impris- 


37 

oned,  banished  or  otherwise  punished,  no  man  shall 
be  deprived  of  his  wife  or  children,  no  man's  goods 
or  estate  shall  be  taken  from  him,  under  color  of 
law  or  countenance  of  authority,  unless  it  be  by 
virtue  or  equity  of  some  express  law  of  this  juris- 
diction, established  by  the  General  Court,  and  suf- 
ficiently published ;  or  for  want  of  a  law  in  any  par- 
ticular case,  by  the  word  of  God."  Is  there  here 
any  thing  ridiculous  ?  any*  thing  whimsical  ?  any 
thing  opposed  to  the  dictates  of  common  sense? 
On  the  contrary,  do  we  not  recognize  in  this  pre- 
fatory statute  of  the  New  Haven  code,  the  great 
principles  of  free  government,  expressed  in  lan- 
guage full  and  explicit?  principles,  which  have  been 
constantly  kept  in  view  from  the  first  settlement  of 
this  state.  Just  that  prominency  and  emphasis  are 
here  given  to  security  of  person  and  property,  which 
might  be  expected.  It  was  a  matter  of  course, 
that  men  who  had  suffered  so  greatly  as  the  first 
colonists  of  New  England,  from  arbitrary  impris- 
onments, exactions  and  forfeitures,  should,  in  estab- 
lishing a  government  for  themselves,  guard  their 
privileges  with  especial  care.  This  they  did ;  and 
the  statute  now  recited,  which  was  copied  from  the 
laws  of  Massachusetts,  and  which  was  also  prefixed 
to  the  Connecticut  code  of  1650,  the  General  Court 
of  New  Haven  adopted  as  a  fit  introduction  to  their 
legislative  acts.  It  was  contained,  with  little  va- 
riation, in  every  edition  of  the  laws  of  Connecticut 
till  1817,  and  is  substantially  incorporated  into  the 
present  constitution  of  the  state.  We  have  here 
a  proof,  how  well  the  principles  of  civil  liberty  were 
comprehended  by  our  ancestors,  and  of  their  deter- 
mination to  maintain  them. 


38 

It  will  not  be  expected,  that  every  law  of  this 
early  code,  should  now  pass  under  review.  A  con- 
sideration of  a  few  of  its  provisions,  is  all  which  the 
time  allows,  or  the  occasion  demands.  From  the 
leading  features  of  this  specimen  of  early  legisla- 
tion, its  general  character  can  be  easily  discerned. 

If  there  is  any  thing  in  the  institutions  of  a  free 
state,  which  shows  the  character  of  its  founders, 
it  is  the  regard  paid  to  the  education  of  youth. 
Religion,  morals,  enterprise,  whatever  benefits  or 
adorns  society,  rest  here  on  their  surest  foundation ; 
and  where  effectual  provision  is  made  in  the  in- 
fancy of  a  community  for  general  instruction,  other 
salutary  regulations  may  be  expected  to  accom- 
pany them.  Take  from  our  commonwealth  the 
universal  education  of  our  citizens,  and  our  social 
system  is  at  an  end.  The  forms  might  continue  for 
a  time;  but  its  spirit  would  have  fled.  To  suppose, 
that  pure  religion,  pure  morals,  an  upright  admin- 
istration of  government,  and  a  peaceable,  orderly, 
and  agreeable  intercourse  in  the  domestic  and  social 
relations  of  life  can  exist,  where  the  people  as  a 
body  are  ignorant  of  letters,  is  an  egregious  sole- 
cism. I  do  not  say,  that  education  is  all  that  is 
needed;  but  without  knowledge  generally  diffused, 
other  means  of  improving  human  society,  are  com- 
paratively weak  and  unavailing.  This  truth  the 
first  planters  of  New  Haven  strongly  felt ;  and  the 
record  of  their  acts  furnishes  most  honorable  proof, 
that  the  course  of  their  legislation  was  in  conform- 
ity with  their  convictions. 

Among  the  early  proceedings  of  the  General 
Court,  while  its  jurisdiction  was  confined  within 


39 

the  limits  of  Quinnipiac,  we  find  that  an  order  was 
given  to  establish  a  public  school  for  the  instruction 
of  youth,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  con- 
sider "  what  yearly  allowance  is  meet  to  be  given 
to  it  out  of  the  common  stock  of  the  town."  This 
order  was  made  at  the  same  time  in  which  the  plan- 
ters were  taxing  themselves  very  heavily  for  the 
erection  of  bridges.  The  very  year  in  which  the 
"  fundamental  agreement"  was  entered  into,  we  find 
a  record,  that  Thomas  Fugill  is  required  to  keep 
Charles  Iligginson,  an  indented  apprentice,  "  at 
school  one  year ;  or  else  to  advantage  him  as  much 
in  his  education,  as  a  year's  learning  comes  to." 
Charles  Higginson  was  probably  the  first  appren- 
tice indented  in  the  colony,  and  this  condition  of  his 
apprenticeship  was  recorded,  undoubtedly  as  an 
example  of  privileges  to  be  granted  to  all  in  the 
same  circumstances.  Here  is  a  proceeding,  which 
marks  as  distinctly  as  any  measure  could,  the  views 
entertained  by  the  leaders  of  the  colony,  of  the 
value  of  education,  the  protection  which  ought  to 
be  extended  to  the  indigent,  and  their  regard  for 
popular  rights.  If  any  one  hereafter  shall  wish  to 
inspect  the  early  colonial  records  of  New  Haven, 
to  find  subjects  of  reproach  or  merriment,  let  him 
be  referred  to  the  entry  of  the  indentures  of  Charles 
Higginson.  If  all  the  ridiculous  and  absurd  re- 
ports which  have  been  circulated  about  the  New 
Haven  laws  were  founded  in  fact,  this  single  record, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  intelligent  and  unprejudiced, 
would  throw  them  at  once  into  the  shade.  Such 
a  course  of  policy  as  is  here  unfolded,  such  charity 
for  a  class  of  the  community,  at  that  time,  and  still, 


40 

under  every  European  government  but  little  re- 
garded, would  cover  a  multitude  of  sins.  No  sug- 
gestion for  the  adoption  of  a  rule  by  which  an  ele- 
mentary education  was  secured  to  apprentices, 
could  have  been  received  from  any  law  of  the  pa- 
rent country.  No  act  of  parliament,  it  is  believed, 
embracing  such  a  provision,  exists  in  England,  with 
all  its  improvement  and  wealth,  to  the  present  day. 
But  not  only  were  the  advantages  of  a  common 
school  education  immediately  secured  to  all,  but 
with  a  wise  reference  to  what  is  essential  to  the  full 
success  of  common  schools  themselves,  provision 
was  very  early  made  for  the  higher  branches  of 
instruction,  and  a  grammar  school  was  established. 
As  early  as  1654,  when  the  colony  was  suffering 
from  the  failure  of  their  commercial  projects,  and 
when  the  estates  of  individuals  were  greatly  dimin- 
ished, and  even  doubts  were  entertained  by  some, 
whether  it  was  expedient  to  struggle  any  longer 
against  disaster;  Mr.  Davenport  gave  a  strong 
proof  of  his  confidence  in  the  stability  of  the  set- 
tlement, and  its  ultimate  prosperity,  by  the  efforts 
which  he  made  for  the  beginning  of  a  college.  He 
brought  forward  before  the  General  Court  a  plan 
for  such  an  institution ;  and  the  town  of  New  Ha- 
ven, notwithstanding  its  depressed  state,  made  a 
donation  in  land  for  its  encouragement.  The  pro- 
ject was,  indeed,  premature,  and  on  further  consid- 
eration was  properly  deferred  to  a  later  period; 
but  it  shows  not  less  clearly,  than  if  it  had  been  put 
into  immediate  operation,  the  enlarged  views  of 
the  projector,  and  the  principles  by  which  he  was 
guided.     The  foundations  of  the  colony  he  wished 


41 

to  lay  deep  and  firm ;  and  the  intelligence  of  the 
people  was  that,  on  which  he  chiefly  relied,  to  give 
strength  and  durability  to  the  political  edifice. 

It  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  the  subject  to  remark 
here,  that  neither  the  system  of  common  schools,  nor 
of  those  of  a  higher  class,  originated  in  any  strong 
expression  of  public  opinion;  but  was  devised  and 
carried  forward  by  such  men  as  John  Davenport. 
A  glance  at  the  course  of  legislation  on  this  sub- 
ject, is  sufficient  to  establish  this  truth  beyond 
doubt.  Schools  were  at  first  instituted  by  a  gen- 
eral law,  without  any  penalty  to  secure  its  execu- 
tion; but  this  proved  insufficient.  Another  law, 
therefore,  respecting  children's  education,  was  in- 
troduced into  the  New  Haven  code  of  1656,  which 
was  very  explicit,  and  guarded  by  abundant  sanc- 
tions. The  deputies,  constables,  and  other  officers 
in  public  trust,  are  required  "  to  have  a  vigilant 
eye  over  their  brethren  and  neighbors,"  and  to  take 
care  "that  all  their  children  and  apprentices,  as 
they  grow  capable,  may  through  God's  blessing, 
attain  at  least  so  much,  as  to  be  able  duly  to  read 
the  scriptures,  and  other  good  and  profitable  printed 
books  in  the  English  tongue,  being  their  native  lan- 
guage, and  in  some  competent  measure  to  under- 
stand the  main  grounds  and  principles  of  the  chris- 
tian religion  necessary  to  salvation;  and  to  give  an 
answer  to  such  plain  and  ordinary  questions,  as 
may  by  the  said  deputies,  officer  or  officers,  be  pro- 
pounded concerning  the  same."  Delinquents  un- 
der this  law  were  first  warned ;  if  they  continued 
in  fault,  they  were  fined ;  if  no  reformation  followed, 
the  fine  was  doubled ;  if  it  still  appeared,  that  the 

6 


42 

children  or  servants  of  any  family  were  "  in  clan* 
ger  to  grow  barbarous,  rude  and  stubborn  through 
ignorance,"  the  court  of  magistrates  is  authorized 
"  to  proceed  as  they  find  cause,  either  to  a  greater 
fine,  taking  security  for  due  conformity  to  the  scope 
and  intent  of  this  law,  or  may  take  such  children 
or  apprentices  from  such  parents  or  masters,  and 
place  them  for  years, — boys  till  they  come  to  the 
age  of  one  and  twenty,  and  girls  till  they  come  to 
the  age  of  eighteen  years, — with  such  others,  who 
shall  better  educate  and  govern  them,  both  for  pub- 
lic convenience,  and  for  the  particular  good  of  the 
said  children  or  apprentices." 

The  course  of  legislation  in  Connecticut,  and  in 
the  united  colony  after  1665,  shows  conclusively, 
that  neither  the  prospect  of  advantage  from  educa- 
tion, nor  the  dread  of  penalties,  was  sufficient  to 
secure  the  proper  execution  of  the  laws  respecting 
schools.  Accordingly,  the  select-men  of  every  town 
were  required  to  see  that  none  "  suffer  so  much  bar- 
barism in  any  of  their  families,"  as  not  to  "teach 
their  children  and  apprentices  so  much  learning, 
as  may  enable  them  perfectly  to  read  the  English 
tongue;"  and  by  a  subsequent  statute,  it  was  made 
the  duty  of  the  grand-jurymen  in  each  town,  once  a 
a  year,  at  least,  "  to  visit  suspected  families  and 
satisfy  themselves,  whether  all  children  under  age 
and  servants  in  such  suspected  families,  can  read 
the  English  tongue,  or  be  in  a  good  procedure  to 
learn  the  same."  Still  later  it  was  enacted,  that 
"  if  any  be  unable  to  do  so  much,"  that  is,  to  teach 
their  children  and  apprentices  to  read  the  English 
tongue,  "  that  then  at  the  least,  they  procure  such 


43 

children  and  apprentices  to  learn  some  short  ortho- 
dox catechism,  without  book,  that  they  may  be  able 
to  answer  to  the  questions  that  shall  be  propounded 
to  them  out  of  such  catechism,  by  their  parents,  or 
masters,  or  ministers,  when  they  shall  call  them  to 
an  account  of  what  they  have  learned  in  that  kind ;" 
and  all  who  were  found  delinquent  were  subjected 
to  heavy  penalties.  These  are  specimens  of  the 
early  laws  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  on  the 
subject  of  schools.  From  this  detail  it  is  manifest, 
that  the  introduction  of  the  common  school  system 
was  a  work  of  time,  and  of  unwearied  effort.  By 
perseverance,  however,  the  benefits  of  education 
were  finally  perceived  and  acknowledged  by  all ; 
a  school  was  brought  to  every  man's  door ;  the 
poor,  and  even  the  slave,  were  within  the  reach  of 
instruction;  and  hence,  for  nearly  a  century  and  a 
half,  a  native  of  Connecticut  of  mature  age,  unable 
to  "  read  the  English  tongue,"  has  been  looked  upon 
as  a  prodigy. 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  to  ascer- 
tain, to  what  man,  or  class  of  men,  the  honor  of 
having  originated  our  system  of  schools,  belongs. 
A  distinguished  citizen  of  Connecticut  remarked 
more  than  forty  years  ago :  "  Did  I  know  the  name 
of  the  legislator,  who  first  conceived,  and  suggested 
the  idea,  [of  common  schools,]  I  should  pay  to  his 
memory,  the  highest  tribute  of  reverence  and  re- 
gard. I  should  feel  for  him,  a  much  higher  venera- 
tion and  respect,  than  I  do  for  Lycurgus  and  Solon, 
the  celebrated  legislators  of  Sparta  and  Athens.  I 
should  revere  him  as  the  greatest  benefactor  of  the 
human  race ;  because  he  has  been  the  author  of  a 


44 

provision,  which,  if  it  should  be  adopted  in  every 
country,  would  produce  a  happier  and  more  import- 
ant influence  on  the  human  character,  than  any 
institution  which  the  wisdom  of  man  has  devised."* 

Perhaps  the  honor  of  devising  the  scheme  of  pop- 
ular education,  which  has  prevailed  in  New  Eng- 
land, belongs  exclusively  to  no  individual.  It  ori- 
ginated rather  in  the  general  wish  to  bring  all  di- 
rectly to  the  scriptures  for  religious  knowledge, 
and  in  a  regard  for  popular  rights,  both  of  which 
were  distinguishing  traits  of  puritanism,  than  in  the 
sagacity  and  benevolent  efforts  of  any  one  man. 
But  if  the  inquiry  should  be,  to  whom  is  to  be  as- 
cribed the  honor  of  establishing  the  school-system 
of  the  New  Haven  colony,  the  question  is  easily 
answered.  It  is  the  just  due  of  Theophilus  Eaton 
and  John  Davenport ;  or  if  a  distinction  must  be 
made  here,  abundant  evidence  exists  in  the  colony 
records,  that  the  preeminence  belongs  to  the  lat- 
ter.t  In  John  Davenport  was  that  deep  conviction 
of  the  value  of  general  intelligence,  especially,  in 
his  view  of  the  subject,  as  the  means  of  diffusing 
sound  religious  instruction,  that  energy  and  that 
resolution,  which  are  essential  to  the  successful 
introduction  into  a  community  of  a  practical  com- 
mon school  system ;  and  it  is  to  men  like  him,  that 
the  credit  should  be  given,  of  having  by  their  influ- 
ence carried  this  system  forward,  to  its  full  ex- 
ecution. 

The  extension  of  common  schools,  and  their  effect 
on  the  general  interests  of  society,  have  been  far 

*  1  Swift's  System,  159.  «  Note  H. 


45 

greater,  than  could  have  been  anticipated  by  those, 
who  in  the  infancy  of  New  England,  introduced 
and  nurtured  them,  with  such  exemplary  perse- 
verance. They  have  increased  not  only  in  num- 
bers, but  in  strength ;  and  their  hold  on  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people,  has,  with  the  progress  of  years, 
been  more  and  more  firm.  The  numerous  emi- 
grants from  those  states,  where  common  schools 
were  first  established,  have,  in  their  wide  disper- 
sion, carried  the  system  with  them.  A  school  they 
have  considered  as  next  in  necessity  to  a  shelter 
from  the  elements ;  and  as  the  forests  disappear  at 
the  west,  one  of  the  first  structures  in  a  New  Eng- 
land settlement,  which  greets  the  eye,  is  the  school- 
house.  Those  parts  of  New  England,  which  were 
originally  settled  without  the  school-system,  have 
from  a  view  of  its  advantages,  for  the  most  part 
adopted  it ;  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  the 
United  States,  where  the  influence  of  New  Eng- 
land emigrants  has  been  most  felt,  have  adopted  it; 
the  same  system  is  viewed  with  increasing  favor, 
where  its  establishment  is  yet  but  partial;  and  the 
time  may  be  reasonably  anticipated  as  not  far  dis- 
tant, in  which  its  prevalence  will  be  co-extensive 
with  the  population  of  the  Union.  The  source  of 
the  wide-spread  and  incalculable  benefits  of  popu- 
lar education  in  America,  may  be  traced,  without 
danger  of  error,  to  a  few  of  the  leading  puritans ; 
and  among  these,  the  founders  of  the  little  colony 
of  New  Haven,  deserve  a  most  honorable  place. 
Hubbard  says, — "  They,"  the  people  of  New  Ha- 
ven, "  made  many  attempts,  all  along  from  the  first 
to  the  last  of  their  being  a  distinct  colony, — even 


46 

such  as  were  above  their  strength, — to  promote 
learning  by  public  schools."*  To  the  vigorous  and 
patient  efforts  of  these  men,  we  are  indebted  for  this 
effectual  mode  of  really  benefitting  the  many  ;  and 
it  may  not  be  too  much  to  say,  that  if  the  early  pil- 
grims, more  particularly  of  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut, had  not  struggled  and  toiled  for  this  great 
object,  and  if  they  had  not  been  immediately  suc- 
ceeded by  men  who  had  imbibed  a  large  portion  of 
the  same  spirit,  the  school-system  of  New  England 
would  not  now  exist. 

On  examining  further  Governor  Eaton's  code, 
and  the  recorded  proceedings  of  the  government, 
we  find  that  provision  was  made  in  the  colony  by 
law,  for  the  support  of  religion.  The  same  reg- 
ulation was  adopted  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut, 
and  was  continued  after  the  union  in  1665.  This 
measure  has  called  forth  commendation  from  some, 
while  with  others  it  has  been  a  subject  of  censure 
and  reproach.  But  it  should  be  recollected,  that 
the  great  object  of  the  establishment  of  the  colony, 
was  religion.  Placing  this  out  of  view,  perhaps  not 
an  individual  of  the  settlement  would  have  ever  re- 
moved to  America.  Religion,  therefore,  with  the 
first  inhabitants,  was,  in  the  highest  sense,  a  matter 
of  public  interest.  It  was  the  subject  of  all  others 
nearest  their  hearts ;  and  the  last  which  they  would 
allow  to  be  dependent  on  charity.  The  first  clergy 
in  the  New  Haven  colony,  as  in  the  other  colonies 
of  New  England,  were  men  of  learning  as  well  as 
of  talents ;  they  had,  most  of  them,  received  their 


324. 


47 

education  in  the  English  universities,  and  had  en- 
joyed all  the  advantages  in  preparing  themselves  for 
their  profession,  which  England  afforded.  What- 
ever may  be  true  now,  to  support  at  that  time,  in  a 
few  feeble  and  dispersed  settlements,  such  men, 
with  a  prospect  that  they  would  be  succeeded  by 
others  worthy  of  their  places,  was  impossible  with- 
out public  aid. 

The  ministers  also  in  the  several  congregations, 
had  the  principal  part  in  forming  the  character  of 
the  new  communities.  The  whole  subject  of  edu- 
cation was  one,  which  fell  principally  to  their 
charge.  If  a  legal  maintenance  had  not  been  se- 
cured to  them,  devoted  as  the  people  at  first  were 
to  religion,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  from  any 
facts  recorded,  that  the  country  in  a  few  genera- 
tions, would  not  have  been  overrun  by  ignorance 
and  fanaticism.  If  we  are  now  secure  against  these 
evils,  it  is  to  be  attributed  principally  to  the  general 
education  which  prevails ;  which  these  men,  more 
than  any  others,  were  active  in  promoting.  Be- 
sides, there  is  no  evidence,  that  for  the  first  hundred 
years  after  the  settlement  of  the  colony,  the  support 
of  the  pastors  of  the  churches  by  law,  was  a  subject 
of  complaint;  and  for  fifty  years  more,  complaints, 
if  they  existed,  were  confined  to  a  very  small  num- 
ber. The  first  colonists  had  been  accustomed  to  pay 
tithes  in  their  native  country.  Here  they  adopted 
a  system  far  less  onerous,  and  contributed  to  sup- 
port those,  who  were  pastors  by  popular  choice, 
and  the  objects  of  their  respect  and  reverence.  Ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  New  Haven  colony,  cer- 
tain magistrates  in  each  town  called  on  all  the  in- 


48 

habitants  and  desired  every  one  "  to  set  down  the 
proportion  he  was  willing  and  able  to  allow  yearly, 
while  God  continued  his  estate,  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  the  ministry ;"  and  if  any  one  refused  or 
delayed,  or  set  down  "  an  unmeet  proportion,"  the 
magistrates  were  authorized,  "  to  assess  every  such 
person,  according  to  his  visible  estate,  with  due 
moderation,  and  in  equal  proportion  with  his  neigh- 
bors." Those  who  maintain,  that  the  course  adop- 
ted was  wrong,  must  still  admit,  that  it  was  far  less 
objectionable,  than  that,  to  which  the  colonists  had 
been  used  in  England. 

But,  it  is  said,  that  laws  were  enacted  both  in 
New  Haven  and  Connecticut,  requiring  attendance 
on  religious  worship ;  and  that  these  laws  are  evi- 
dence of  the  over  rigid  and  oppressive  spirit  of  the 
puritans.  But  before  we  decide  positively  on  this 
subject,  we  ought  to  inquire,  whether  this  legal  re- 
quirement to  be  present  at  the  public  services  of 
religion,  was  exclusively  a  puritanical  measure. 
What  then  was  the  law  of  England  respecting  this 
same  subject?  If  we  turn  to  the  act  of  the  35th  of 
Elizabeth,  entitled  an  act  u  to  retain  the  Queen's 
Majesty's  subjects  in  their  due  obedience," — we 
shall  find,  that  "any  person  or  persons,  above  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  which  shall  obstinately  refuse 
to  repair  to  some  church,  chapel,  or  usual  place  of 
common  prayer,  to  hear  divine  service  established 
by  her  Majesty's  laws  and  statutes  in  that  behalf 
made," — "or  shall  advisedly  or  maliciously  move 
or  persuade  any  other  person  whatsoever  to  forbear 
or  abstain  from  coming  to  church  to  hear  divine 
service,  or  to  receive  the  communion  according  to 


49 

her  Majesty's  laws  and  statutes" — "  or  be  present 
at  any  unlawful  assemblies,  conventicles,  or  meet- 
ings, under  color  or  pretence  of  any  exercise  of  re- 
ligion contrary  to  her  Majesty's  said  laws  and  stat- 
utes," and  being  thereof  lawfully  convicted,  "  shall 
be  committed  to  prison,  there  to  remain  without 
bail  or  mainprize,  until  they  shall  conform  and  yield 
themselves,  to  come  to  some  church,  chapel,  or 
usual  place  of  common  prayer,  and  hear  divine  ser- 
vice according  to  her  Majesty's  laws  and  statutes 
aforesaid."  The  offender  not  conforming,  he  was 
obliged  "to  abjure  the  realm,"  and  "if  he  return," 
it  is  added,  "without  her  Majesty's  special  license 
in  that  behalf," — "  the  person  so  offending  shall  be 
adjudged  a  felon,  and  shall  suffer,  as  in  case  of  fel- 
ony, without  benefit  of  clergy."  What  law,  in  any 
part  of  New  England  relating  to  religious  worship, 
can  be  compared  in  severity  to  this  ?  Here  is  one 
of  the  laws,  from  which  the  puritans  fled ;  and  the 
corresponding  laws  enacted  in  New  Haven  and 
Connecticut,  though  all  would  now  condemn  them 
as  unnecessarily  rigid,  and  in  cases  which  might 
occur,  encroaching  on  the  rights  of  conscience,  yet 
compared  with  the  law  just  recited,  and  this  is  the 
only  proper  mode  of  judging  concerning  them, 
they  are  forbearing,  lenient,  mild.  The  laws  of 
Virginia,  likewise,  which  were  enacted  in  the  in- 
fancy of  that  colony,  to  compel  every  person  to  go 
to  church,  on  Sundays  and  holydays,  were  far  more 
severe,  than  those  of  any  part  of  New  England. 

It  should  also  be  recollected,  that  the  early  laws 
of  Connecticut  enforcing  attendance  on  public  wor- 
ship, concerned  congregationalists  alone;  as  none 

7 


50 

other  than  congregationalists  were  in  the  colony. 
In  the  year  1665,  when  the  king's  commissioners 
visited  New  England,  they  reported,  that  the  people 
of  Connecticut  "will  not  hinder  any  from  enjoying 
the  sacraments,  and  using  the  common  prayer  book, 
provided  that  they  hinder  not  the  maintenance  of 
the  public  minister  5"* — as  high  a  religious  privi- 
lege, as  any  enjoyed  by  dissenters  in  England  at 
the  present  day.  When,  after  an  interval  of  more 
than  half  a  century,  religious  societies  were  formed 
in  Connecticut,  which  adopted  the  ritual  of  the 
church  of  England,  not  only  were  these  societies  al- 
lowed, but  all  belonging  to  them,  as  soon  as  it  could 
be  conveniently  done,  were  released  from  contribu- 
ting to  the  support  of  the  congregational  ministers. 
The  same  liberty  was  allowed  to  those  who  adopted 
other  forms  of  worship;  nor  is  there  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  these  changes  in  the  original  enactments 
were  made,  without  the  concurrence  of  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  congregational  clergy.  What  then  is 
the  amount  of  the  objections  against  the  laws  which 
have  been  considered?  When  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  colonies  enter- 
tained the  same  views  of  religion,  all  by  law  con- 
tributed to  its  support,  were  required  to  attend  on 
the  religious  instruction  thus  provided,  and  were 
satisfied,  that  it  should  be  so.  As  a  diversity  of  re- 
ligious opinions  was  introduced,  the  laws  were  ac- 
commodated to  this  new  state  of  the  community. 
Douglass,  who  had  little  sympathy  with  the  puri- 
tans, said  in  1753,  "  I  never  heard  of  any  persecu- 

*  Hutch.  Col.  412. 


51 

ting  spirit  in  Connecticut ;  in  this  they  are  egre- 
giously  aspersed."*  This  is  true ;  and  the  aspersions 
referred  to  by  this  author  have  not  been  discontin- 
ued. But  it  may  be  said  without  fear  of  contradic- 
tion, from  any  one  who  knows  whereof  he  affirms, 
that  no  example  can  be  produced  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  christian  nations,  where  a  community  unan- 
imous in  their  religion,  and  urged  by  so  many  in- 
ducements to  maintain  it,  have  changed  their  laws, 
and  made  every  concession  desired,  more  promptly, 
fully,  and  cheerfully,  than  the  people  of  Connec- 
ticut.f 

It  has  been  likewise  objected  to  the  New  Haven 
code,  that  it  contained  a  severe  law  against  lying; 
against  "wittingly  and  willingly"  making  and  pub- 
lishing "  any  lie,  tending  to  the  damage  or  injury 
of  any  particular  person,  or  with  intent  to  deceive 
and  abuse  the  people  with  false  news  or  reports." 
This  law  has  been  supposed  to  contain  the  very 
essence  of  puritanism.  Horrible  tyranny !  that  a 
whole  community  should,  in  their  communications 
with  each  other,  when  professing  to  speak  the  truth, 
be  confined  to  plain  matter  of  fact;  and  that  indi- 
viduals should  be  so  far  abridged  of  their  liberty, 
as  not  to  be  able,  at  will,  "  to  deceive  and  abuse  the 
people  with  false  news  or  reports."  But  the  pu- 
ritans did  not  originate  this  law.  Moses  long  ago 
said,  "thou  shalt  not  raise  a  false  report ;"J  and  if 
we  look  back  into  the  code  of  the  good  king  Alfred, 
the  wise  sovereign  of  our  Saxon  ancestors,  the  sub- 
ject of  unceasing    and    unbounded   panegyric,  we 


*  Summary,  Vol.  II.  135.  t  Note  I.  i  Ex.  23  :  1. 


52 

shall  find  a  similar  law ;  not  guarded,  like  our  New 
Haven  statute,  by  the  sanctions  of  a  fine,  the  stocks, 
and  the  whipping-post ;  but  whoever  was  found 
guilty  in  the  premises,  was  doomed  to  have  his 
tongue  cut  out.  What  a  tongueless  nation  should 
we  be  in  danger  of  becoming,  under  the  operation 
of  such  a  law  as  this !  But  the  puritans  of  New 
England,  were  not  in  their  own  times,  singular  in 
their  laws  against  lying.  Similar  laws  existed  in 
the  Quaker  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Catholic 
colony  of  Maryland,  and  the  Episcopal  colony  of 
Virginia.* 

But  it  is  said,  that  there  was  a  law  in  the  New 
Haven  code,  against  heretics ;  and  that  persons 
were  tried  in  New  Haven  for  witchcraft.  As  to 
heresy,  there  were  one  or  two  instances  in  the 
New  Haven  colony,  where  punishment  was  inflicted 
for  this  crime.  In  March,  1658,  Humphrey  Nor- 
ton, a  quaker,  who  had  a  short  time  before  made 
himself  notorious  in  Plymouth,  uttered  what  were 
considered  heretical  opinions,  and  in  a  disorderly 
manner,  interrupted  public  worship,  at  Southhold, 
on  Long  Island.  For  this  conduct  he  was  arrested, 
and  sent  to  New  Haven  for  trial ;  where,  on  a 
charge  of  heresy  and  of  disturbing  the  public  peace, 
he  was  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be  whipped  and 
branded.  But  the  quakers,  who  came  into  New 
England,  at  that  time,  were  boisterous,  turbulent 
and  seditious,  and  the  individual  above  named  ex- 
hibited, on  his  trial,  in  a  high  degree,  the  usual 
characteristics  of  that  portion  of  the  sect.     These 

*  Chal.  341,  352. 


53 

circumstances,  however,  by  no  means  justify  the 
proceedings  in  his  case.  A  milder  course  would 
have  equally  restrained  disorder,  and  had  a  greater 
tendency  to  convince  the  offender  of  error.  But 
the  severity  against  this  quaker  was  small,  com- 
pared with  what  took  place  in  other  parts  of  New 
England,  and  especially  in  the  parent  country.* 
As  to  witchcraft,  trials  of  persons  charged  with 
this  crime,  were  held  in  New  Haven,  but  I  do  not 
find,  that  any  one  was  convicted,  much  less,  con- 
demned to  death.f  The  court,  on  all  occasions  of 
this  kind,  acted  as  if  they  had  approached  the  conclu- 
sion, long  after  commended  by  Blackstone,  "  that  in 
general,  there  has  been  such  a  thing  as  witchcraft, 
though  one  cannot  give  credit  to  any  particular 
modern  instance  of  it. "J  It  is  a  great  mistake  also 
to  suppose,  that  arraigning,  trying  and  hanging 
witches,  had  any  necessary  connection  with  puri- 
tanism.  The  learned  and  profound  Cudworth,§  one 
of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  English  church, 
declared  in  1678,  that  disbelievers  in  the  existence 
of  witchcraft,  "  can  hardly  escape  the  suspicion 
of  having  some  hankering  towards  atheism  j"  and 
more  than  half  a  century  after  the  colony  of  New 
Haven  ceased  to  be  a  distinct  jurisdiction,  witches 
were  by  the  English  courts  condemned  to  the  gal- 
lows. The  laws  against  witchcraft  in  England 
were  not  repealed,  till  the  ninth  year  of  George  II. ; 
that  is,  till  about  a  century  after  the  settlement  of 
New  Haven.     But  we  are  told  by  Douglass,  that 


*  Note  K.  t  Note  L.  t  Comm.  Book  IV.  C.  4. 

§  Intellect.  Syst.  Book  I.  Ch.  4. 


54 

"  these  puritans  were  pious,  honest,  well  meaning 
people ;  but  too  contracted,  rigid,  and  singular  in 
their  discipline  and  practice  of  devotion."*     This 
must  be  admitted  to  be,  to  some  extent,  true.     I  am 
far  from  thinking  the  puritans  to  have  been  fault- 
less.    Rigid  they  most  certainly  were;  and  their 
severity,  in  cases  of  immorality,  was  too  often  ex- 
treme.    Their  piety  also  had  the  appearance,  at 
times,  of  austerity  and  asceticism;  and  here,  we 
are  to  look  for  their  chief  failings.    But  though  hard- 
favored  and  unaccommodating,  and  somewhat  con- 
fined in  their  views  on  certain  points,  they  were  not 
in  the  proper  sense -bigoted;  if  by  bigotry,  we  are 
to  understand  an  obstinate  and  blind  attachment  to 
their  own  particular  creed.     What  was  the  lan- 
guage of  Robinson  to  the  first  church  at  Plym- 
outh ?     Though  vfjell  known,  it  will  bear  repetition. 
"  If  God  reveal  any  thing  to  you,"  says  this  puri- 
tan divine,  "  be  as  ready  to  receive  it  by  any  other 
instrument  of  his,  as  ever  you  were  to  receive  any 
truth  from  my  ministry. — I  beseech  you  remember, 
it  is  an  article  of  your  church  covenant,  that  you 
be  ready  to  receive,  whatever  truths  shall  be  made 
known  to  you  from   the  written  word  of  God."f 
Look  at  the  language  used  to  their  brethren  of  the 
church  of  England,  by  the  first  emigrants  to  Mas- 
sachusetts.    "  We  are  not  of  those,"  say  they,  "  that 
dream  of  perfection  in  this  world;  yet  we  desire, 
that  you  would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  of  the  prin- 
cipals and  body  of  our  company,  as  those  who  es- 
teem it  our  honor  to  call  the  church  of  England, 

*  Summary,  Vol.  I.  371.  t   Morton's  Memorial,  by  Davis,  20. 


55 

from  whence  we  rise,  our  dear  mother ;  and  cannot 
part  from  our  native  country,  where  she  especially 
resideth,  without  much  sadness  of  heart,  and  many 
tears  in  our  eyes,  ever  acknowledging,  that  such 
part  as  we  have  obtained  in  the  common  salvation, 
we  have  received  in  her  bosom."  "  We  shall  al- 
ways rejoice  in  her  good,  and  unfeignedly  grieve  for 
any  sorrow  that  shall  ever  betide  her,  and  while 
we  have  breath  sincerely  desire  and  endeavor  the 
continuance  and  abundance  of  her  welfare,  with 
the  enlargement  of  her  bounds  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  Jesus."*  And  when  the  excellent  Higgin- 
son  of  Salem  saw  the  shores  of  his  native  country 
sinking  in  the  distance,  he  called  his  children 
around  him  on  the  deck  of  the  ship,  and  said,  "We 
will  not  say,  as  the  separatists  were  wont  to  say,  at 
their  leaving  England,  Farewell  Babylon !  Fare- 
well Rome  ! — But  we  will  say,  farewell  dear  Eng- 
land !  Farewell  the  church  of  God  in  England,  and 
all  the  christian  friends  there."f  This  was  the  lan- 
guage of  most  of  the  puritans,  who  first  came  to 
America.  Their  opposition  to  the  church  of  Eng- 
land was  chiefly  political,  and  limited  in  a  great 
measure  to  discipline.  J  If  there  are  any,  therefore, 
among  their  descendants,  who  are  unwilling  to  re- 
ceive truth  from  whatever  quarter  it  comes;  or  if 
there  are  any,  who  do  not  feel  a  reverence  for  the 
church  of  England,  and  pray  for  its  prosperity, 
they  neither  hold  the  opinions,  nor  cherish  the 
spirit,  of  their  fathers. 

Most  of  the  leading  laws,  therefore,  of  the  New 
Haven  colony,  may  be  pronounced  to  have  been  wise 

*  1  Hutch.  487.  t  Mather's  Magnal.  Book  III.  74.  t  Note  M. 


56 

and  salutary,  and  well  suited  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  people  for  whom  they  were  framed.    That  some 
enactments  were  of  a  questionable  character,  and  a 
few  plainly  injudicious,  no  one  will  deny.     But  it 
will  be  asked ;  was  there  not  a  collection  of  laws, 
which  was  never  published,  relating  more  partic- 
ularly to  the  domestic  and  private  concerns  of  in- 
dividuals? laws  so  frivolous  and  absurd,  as  to  have 
been  long  a  favorite  topic  of  sport  and  ridicule  ? 
To  this  I  can  say  only,  that  of  such  an  unpublished 
code,  I  have  never  seen  any  trace.     No  allusion  to 
such  laws  can  be  found,  it  is  believed,  in  the  re- 
cords of  the  colony.     That  in  the  early  periods  of 
the  settlement,  the  conduct  of  individuals  was  sub- 
jected to  a  more  strict  supervision,  than  would  be 
tolerated  in  a  larger  community,  is  undoubtedly 
true.     From  this  circumstance,  various  distorted 
representations  of  the  early  laws  of  New  Haven 
have  been  industriously  circulated,  false   in  fact, 
and  injurious  to  the  character  of  the  first  planters. 
As  in  Massachusetts,  so  in  New  Haven,  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  courts  seem  to  have  been  adapted  in 
many  cases  "  to  the  circumstances  of  a  large  fam- 
ily of  children  and  servants."*     The  application 
also  of  the  "  general  rules  of  righteousness,"  was 
often  made  with  excessive  rigor,  and  in  a  way  to 
harden,  rather  than  to  reclaim,  offenders ;  but  that 
there  were  any  sumptuary  laws,  laws  regulating 
dress,  or  encroaching  on  the  prerogative  of  fashion, 
I  have  never  discovered  the  slightest  evidence.f 

As  to  the  general  history  of  the  colony  of  New 
Haven,  a  few  particulars  only  can  be  mentioned. 


*  1  Hutch.  43.",.  t  Note  N. 


57 

In  1643,  Mr.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Gregson  were  ap- 
pointed commissioners,  to  meet  others  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, Plymouth  and  Connecticut,  to  consult 
for  the  common  interest;  and  in  consequence  the 
four  colonies  formed  a  league  offensive  and  defen- 
sive. At  the  subsequent  meetings  of  the  commis- 
sioners during  the  life  of  Gov.  Eaton,  it  is  believed, 
that  he  always  appeared  as  one  of  the  delegates  of 
New  Haven,  and  several  times  presided  over  the 
deliberations  of  this  first  American  congress. 

It  has  been  already  stated,  that  it  was  the  ori- 
ginal plan  of  Mr.  Eaton  and  his  company  to  build 
up  here  a  commercial  town.  The  colony  was  com- 
posed chiefly  of  persons,  who  had  spent  their  lives 
in  trade,  and  who  were  but  poorly  fitted  for  any 
other  employment.  The  project  of  an  establish- 
ment more  strictly  mercantile,  than  any  which  had 
been  before  begun,  was  not  wholly  visionary.  The 
coast  of  America  with  its  rivers  and  harbors,  had, 
indeed,  been  but  partially  explored,  and  the  resour- 
ces of  the  country  for  a  profitable  trade,  must  have 
been,  in  a  great  degree,  a  matter  of  conjecture;  yet 
it  was  by  no  means  irrational  in  the  emigrants  to 
infer,  that,  on  their  arrival  in  New  England,  a 
place  could  be  found  convenient  in  all  respects,  for 
their  purposes.  That  the  colony,  which  they  suc- 
ceeded in  planting,  was  at  first  unsuccessful  as  a 
trading  community,  we  know;  but  with  the  limited 
knowledge  which  they  possessed  of  the  country,  and 
the  misfortunes  to  which  they  were  subjected,  they 
can  hardly  be  charged  with  a  want  of  vigor  or 
prudent  forecast.  When  they  arrived  at  Boston, 
the  Narragansett  Bay  and  Connecticut  river  were 

8 


58 

in  possession  of  earlier  English  colonists,  or  the 
Dutch ;  and  the  Dutch  had  also  formed  a  settle- 
ment at  Manhadoes.     It  was  a  favorite  object  of 
Mr.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport,  and  with  the  views 
entertained  by  them,  not  an  unwise  one,  to  begin  a 
colony  without  the  limits  of  any  existing  patent. 
Accordingly  they  fixed  upon  Quinnipiac.     Their 
expectation  was,  to  carry  on  a  commerce  with  the 
other  New  England  colonies  and  the  Dutch ;  and 
by  an  establishment  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware 
river,  to  barter  with  the  native  inhabitants  for  bea- 
ver, in  such  articles  as  they  should  receive  from  Eu- 
rope.    The  scheme  was  plausible ;  but  the  Dutch 
disputed  with  them  the  right  to  their  land ;  the  tra- 
ding house  which  they  built  at  the  Delaware,  was 
destroyed  by  the  Swedes;  and  the  ship,  which  they 
built,  as  a  last  resource,  for  a  voyage  to  Europe, 
was  lost  at  sea.     The  property  of  the  principal  in- 
habitants, in  consequence  of  these  disappointments 
and  disasters,  was  greatly  reduced,  their  plans  of 
wealth  were  defeated ;    some  returned  to  Europe, 
and  a  proposition  was  made  the  colony  by  Cromwell, 
to  remove  to  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  or  to  Ireland. 
But  they  had  now  formed  an  attachment  to  their 
new  residence.     The  entire  freedom  from  foreign 
control  which  was  here  enjoyed,  would  give,  we 
may  reasonably  conjecture,  to  any  project  of  re- 
moval, in  the  view  of  the  planters,  the  appearance 
of  doubtful   expediency;    while   the    loss  of  their 
wealth  opposed  a  serious  obstacle  to  any  new  en- 
terprise, which  would  necessarily  involve  very  large 
expense.      Their   determination  was   to  continue, 
where  they  were ;   and   in   consequence  they  be- 


59 

came,  instead  of  a  commercial,  chiefly,  for  a  time, 
an  agricultural  community.  Still  they  carried  on 
a  trade  with  the  other  towns  on  the  coast,  and  with 
Barbadoes,  and  perhaps  other  islands  in  the  West 
Indies.  The  West  India  trade  was  begun  by  the 
first  planters,  and  has  probably  never  been  inter- 
rupted, except  by  war.  As  it  was  the  earliest,  so 
it  has  continued  to  be  the  latest,  foreign  commerce, 
in  which  the  New  Haven  merchants  have  engaged.* 
The  first  colonists  here  suffered  likewise  from  sick- 
ness, which  seems  to  have  been  much  aggravated 
at  times  by  the  want  of  competent  physicians.  But 
on  this  subject,  little  information  can  be  obtained.t 
It  ought  not  to  be  passed  over  in  silence,  that 
the  first  inhabitants  manifested  a  desire  to  orna- 
ment their  town,  and  to  make  it  a  pleasant  resi- 
dence. Hubbard  intimates,  that  they  expended 
their  property  profusely  for  this  object.  His  lan- 
guage is,  "they  laid  out  too  much  of  their  stocks 
and  estates  in  building  of  fair  and  stately  houses, 
wherein,  they  at  the  first  out-did  the  rest  of  the 
country ."t  However  this  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt, 
that  New  Haven  from  the  first,  has  been  noted  for 
neatness  and  simple  elegance;  and  for  this,  it  is 
largely  indebted  to  the  taste  and  liberal  expendi- 
tures of  the  original  settlers.  They  set  an  exam- 
ple, which  their  descendants  have  worthily  followed. 
Chalmers,  who  disliked  the  Americans,  and  took 
every  opportunity  to  depreciate  their  merits,  sums 
up  the  history  of  the  New  Haven  colonists,  in  these 
words:  "they  for  eight  and  twenty  years  enjoyed 

*  Note  O.  -        t  Note  P.  f  334. 


60 

the  delights  of  independent  insignificance;"* — as 
if  dependent  insignificance  would  have  been  any 
better. 

Before  leaving  the  colonial  history  of  New  Ha- 
ven, it  seems  proper  to  take  a  somewhat  nearer  view 
of  the  character  of  the  two  principal  leaders  of  the 
settlement,  Eaton  and  Davenport.  These  two  men, 
in  the  language  of  Mather,  were  "  the  Moses  and 
Aaron1'  of  this  new  settlement;  and  whatever  there 
was  of  good  or  evil,  of  wisdom  or  folly,  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  civilized  society  in  this  part  of  New 
England,  must  be  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  to 
them.  Though  the  government,  which  was  estab- 
lished, was  extremely  popular  in  its  form,  these  men 
without  doubt,  were  looked  up  to  for  devising  and 
executing  the  most  important  measures.  Their 
"company,"  as  it  was  called,  appear  to  have  had 
entire  confidence  in  their  sound  judgment,  ability 
and  integrity;  and  they  did  nothing  to  forfeit  the 
good  opinion  of  their  followers.  Their  influence  in 
all  the  concerns  of  the  colony,  especially  in  what 
respected  the  form  of  government,  the  means  of  ed- 
ucation, and  the  institutions  of  religion,  must  have 
been  constant  and  commanding.  Gov.  Eaton,  from 
his  course  of  life  before  embarking  in  this  underta- 
king, was  prepared,  in  many  important  respects,  to 
act  in  it  with  vigor  and  discretion.  From  his  ar- 
rival to  manhood,  he  had  passed  his  time  in  active 
employments.  His  commercial  transactions,  which 
were  conducted  on  no  inferior  scale,  had  brought 
him  into  connection  with  various  classes  of  men, 


291. 


61 

and  qualified  him  to  manage  extensive  and  compli- 
cated concerns.     His  residence  in  the  north  of  Eu- 
rope, without  doubt,  contributed  largely  to  fit  him 
for  the  expedition  in  which  he  afterwards  engaged. 
As  the   leading  object  of  his  coming  to  America 
was  to  enjoy  unrestrained  his  own  religious  views, 
his  union  with  Mr.  Davenport  in  this  enterprise, 
was  well  judged,  and  fortunate  for  them  both.    They 
had  been  intimate  from  early  life,  their  religious 
opinions  must  have  been  substantially  the  same, 
and  their  general  notions  of  government,  and  of 
the  kind  of  institutions  proper  for  an  infant  society, 
could  not  have  been  very  dissimilar.     Though  the 
colony  failed  to  become  as  important  a  commercial 
establishment,  as  was  hoped,  yet  Gov.  Eaton  seems 
not  to  have  lost,  in  any  degree,  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  the  planters.     He  was  chargeable  with 
no  fault,  and  was  the  subject  of  no  blame.     Though 
from  his  standing  and  property,  he  was   one,  to 
whom  all  others  engaged  in  this  project  of  coloni- 
zation, would  look  to  for  advice  and  direction,  yet 
there  is  no  evidence,  that  he  at  any  time  manifested 
a  disposition  to  elevate  himself,  or  to  exercise  any 
authority   which   was    not    voluntarily    conferred. 
Prudence  and  firmness  were  his  most  obvious  char- 
acteristics; and  so  high  an  opinion  was  entertained 
in  the  colony  of  his  sincerity  and  integrity,  that  his 
simple  declaration  was  always  received  with  impli- 
cit confidence.     His  estate  must  have  been  greatly 
diminished  by  his  removal  to  America;    and  the 
loss  of  numerous  enjoyments  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed,  must  have  been  severely  felt ;  yet,  says 
Gov.  Hopkins,  "I  have  heard  him  say,   that  he 


62 

never  had  a  repenting  or  repining  thought  about 
his  removing  to  New  England."  "  Surely,"  adds 
Gov.  Hopkins,  "  in  this  matter  he  hath  a  grace  far 
out-shining  mine."*  This  feeling  he  seems  to  have 
cherished  to  the  last;  since,  the  evening  before  his 
death,  on  his  wife's  proposing  to  him  to  return  to 
their  native  country,  he  replied  emphatically,  "  I 
shall  die  here."  The  loss  of  Gov.  Eaton  was  greatly 
lamented.  From  the  length  of  time  he  had  pre- 
sided over  the  colony,  he  had  become  identified 
with  all  its  interests. 

John  Davenport  was  a  man  of  more  native  ar- 
dor than  his  associate,  and  possessed  that  fixedness 
of  principle  and  firmness  of  resolve,  which  fitted 
him  to  encounter  opposition,  and  to  embark  in  dif- 
ficult and  dangerous  enterprises.  The  opinions  of 
of  the  puritans  he  adopted  in  their  full  extent;  and 
persecution,  as  usually  happens  in  the  case  of  men 
of  ardent  temperament,  instead  of  breaking  his 
spirit,  forced  him  to  the  extremes  of  his  system. 
He  thought,  that  reformers  were  prone  to  linger, 
and  even  to  halt,  in  their  course ;  and  that  after 
they  had  made  a  certain  progress,  their  further 
improvement  was  hopeless.  It  was  a  saying  of 
his,  that  as  "easily  might  the  ark  have  been  re- 
moved from  the  mountains  of  Ararat,  where  it  first 
grounded,  as  a  people  get  any  ground  in  reforma- 
tion, after  and  beyond  the  first  remove  of  the  re- 
formers."t  He  was  roused,  therefore,  as  we  are 
told  by  Mather,  "to  embark  in  a  design  of  refor- 
mation, wherein  he  might  have  opportunity  to  drive 


*  Mather's  Magnal.  B.  II.  24.  t  Mather's  Magnal.  B.  III.  53. 


63 

things,  in  their  first  essay,  as  near  to  the  precept 
and  pattern  of  scripture,  as  they  could  be  driven." 
With  these  views  and  feelings  he  came  to  New 
England.  If  a  part  of  his  plan  of  a  commonwealth 
proved  to  be  impracticable,  a  part  has  stood  the  se- 
vere trial  of  time ;  and  his  success  has  been  greater, 
than  that  of  most  theorists  in  government. 

I  am  aware,  that  there  has  been  an  impression 
among  some  in  this  community,  that  Mr.  Daven- 
port was  fond  of  power ;  that  he  was  overbearing 
and  arbitrary,  and  exercised  a  kind  of  dictatorship 
in  the  colony.  On  what  just  foundation  such  an 
opinion  rests,  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover. 
That  he  had  an  extensive  and  commanding  influ- 
ence in  all  the  colonial  transactions;  that  he  pos- 
sessed those  qualities  of  mind,  which  fitted  him  to 
become  a  leader  of  others,  and  insensibly  to  mould 
them  to  his  views,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  there 
is  no  evidence,  that  this  ascendency  was  ever  sought 
by  him,  or  when  possessed,  was  employed  for  un- 
worthy purposes.  Whatever  preeminence  he  at- 
tained, was  voluntarily  conceded  to  long  tried  and 
acknowledged  intelligence,  integrity  and  wisdom. 

If  he  had  been  influenced  by  a  thirst  for  power, 
we  might  expect  to  find  traces  of  it  in  the  colony 
laws ;  some  valuable  immunities  of  the  clergy,  some 
share  granted  them  in  the  legislative  or  judicial  de- 
partments of  the  government.  But  nothing  of  this 
character  is  to  be  found  there.  On  the  contrary, 
by  the  New  Haven  code,  the  clergy,  so  far  from 
having  any  civil  power,  could  not  even  perform  the 
marriage  ceremony ;  this  being  placed  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  the  magistrates.     The  church  which 


64 

was  formed  under  his  advice  and  superintendence, 
was  organized  on  principles  strictly  independent; 
a  sort  of  spiritual  democracy,  in  which,  if  there 
were  any  lords,  they  were  "  lords  brethren."  But 
what  must  place  the  question  out  of  all  doubt, 
whether  Mr.  Davenport  assumed  improper  power 
in  the  colony,  is  the  single  fact,  that  when  he  was 
invited  to  Boston  in  1668,  his  removal  was  univer- 
sally opposed  by  the  people  of  the  town.  As  he 
was  determined  to  leave  them,  they  appear  to  have 
silently  acquiesced  in  the  measure;  but  never  to 
have  given  it  their  formal  assent.  This  is  not  the 
mode,  in  which  mankind  act,  when  about  to  be  re- 
lieved from  even  a  moderately  exercised  tyranny. 
As  to  the  estimation  in  which  the  other  principal 
men  of  New  Haven  were  held  in  New  England,  I 
can  only  refer  to  Hubbard,  who  in  characterizing 
the  colony,  speaks  of  the  "  eminency  of  sundry  per- 
sons, suited  for  civil  offices,  and  capable  to  manage 
those  of  a  much  vaster  territory,  than  this  was,  or 
was  ever  like  to  be."* 

In  1662,  John  Winthrop,  Governor  of  Connec- 
ticut, obtained  a  charter  for  that  colony  from  the 
king,  Charles  II.,  "as  amply  privileged  a  charter," 
says  Mather,  "  as  was  ever  enjoyed  perhaps  by 
any  people,  under  the  cope  of  heaven."!  In  this 
charter,  the  colony  of  New  Haven  was  included. 
The  people  of  this  colony,  generally,  had  no  ex- 
pectation of  such  an  event ;  and  when  the  news 
first  arrived  of  their  union  with  Connecticut,  they 
were  thrown   into   a   violent   ferment.     Governor 

■  318.  t  B.  I.  24. 


65 

Winthrop,  however,  would  not  have  acted  in  so  im- 
portant an  affair  without  advice ;  and  according  to 
Hubbard,*  Gov.  Leete  recommended  the  measure. 
But  it  must  have  been  done  secretly.  After  much 
opposition,  New  Haven  finally  yielded;  and  in 
1665,  the  union  with  Connecticut  was  formed.  This 
connection  proved  highly  salutary ;  and  that  New 
Haven  was  ever  a  separate  jurisdiction,  was  soon 
forgotten,  or  remembered  only  as  matter  of  history .f 
After  the  union,  the  separate  history  of  New 
Haven,  is  not  easy  to  be  ascertained.  In  an  an- 
swer to  inquiries  by  the  lords  of  the  committee 
of  colonies,  by  the  government  of  Connecticut,  in 
1680,  forty  two  years  after  the  planting  of  New 
Haven,  it  is  stated,  that  the  militia  of  the  county 
of  New  Haven  were  six  hundred  and  twenty  three, 
being  about  a  fourth  of  the  colony.  They  say,  that 
they  have  in  the  whole  colony  "  about  twenty  petty 
merchants,  some  trade  to  Boston,  some  to  the  In- 
dies and  other  colonies."  New  Haven,  from  its 
situation,  must  have  shared  largely  in  this  trade; 
though  it  appears  from  the  report,  that  it  was  infe- 
rior to  New  London  as  a  place  of  commerce.  They 
make  a  very  unfavorable  representation  of  the  coun- 
try. It  is,  they  say,  "  mountainous,  full  of  rocks, 
swamps,  hills,  and  vales."  "  What  land  is  fit,  is 
taken  up  ;  what  remains,  must  be  gained  out  of  the 
fire  by  hard  blows  and  small  recompense."  "  The 
value  of  our  annual  imports  probably  amounts  to 
£9000."  "  The  property  of  the  whole  corporation 
doth  not  amount  to  £110,788  sterling."     "  Twenty 

*  311.  t  Note  d. 


66 

four  small  vessels  belong  to  the  colony."  In  this 
account  of  their  "  poor  colony,"  as  they  call  it,  they 
add,  "  there  are  no  duties  on  goods  exported  or  im- 
ported, except  on  wines  and  liquors;  which  though 
inconsiderable,  are  appropriated  to  maintain  free 
schools."* 

In  1/00,  the  first  successful  efforts  were  made 
for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  Connecticut ;  which 
in  1716  was  established  permanently  in  New  Ha- 
ven. On  its  history,  and  on  the  character  and  ser- 
vices of  the  men  who  have  been  concerned  in  its 
government  and  instruction,  I  have  no  time  to  en- 
large. I  omit  also  to  notice  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
cerns of  the  town,  as  full  justice  will  be  done  this 
part  of  the  subject  by  another.f 

In  1724,  the  number  of  dwelling  houses  in  New 
Haven  was  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  three;  and 
the  number  of  inhabitants  may  be  estimated  at  that 
time  at  not  far  from  one  thousand.  The  first  exact 
census  of  the  town  is  believed  to  have  been  taken 
in  1787,  when  the  population  was  found  to  be  three 
thousand  five  hundred  and  forty,  including  one 
hundred  and  seventy  six  students  of  Yale  College. 
The  number  of  dwelling  houses  was  four  hundred 
and  sixty  six. 

The  earliest  account  of  the  commerce  of  New 
Haven,  which  is  definite  in  its  details,  is  contained 
in  a  report  from  Col.  Wooster  to  Gov.  Trumbull  in 
1774.  "  The  trade  of  this  part  of  the  colony,"  says 
Col.  Wooster,  "is  entirely  to  the  West  India  islands; 
and  the  exports  are  horses,  oxen,  pork,  beef,  tallow, 


Chalm.  310.  t  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon. 


67 

and  lumber,  and  the  imports  West  India  produce. 
The  shipping  belonging  to  this  port,  are  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  vessels,  consisting  of  brigantines, 
sloops  and  schooners,  amounting  to  seven  thousand, 
one  hundred  and  seventy  tons,  carpenter's  measure. 
The  number  of  sea-faring  men  is  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  six."* 

In  the  revolutionary  war,  the  town  suffered  se- 
verely ;  its  shipping  was  almost  entirely  destroyed, 
and  its  business  greatly  interrupted.  For  several 
years  after  the  peace  of  1783,  New  Haven  had  its 
full  share  of  the  evils  of  an  inefficient  general  gov- 
ernment; and  was  relieved  only  by  the  successful 
operation  of  the  federal  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  new  government  infused  vigor  into 
every  department  of  society  ;  and  from  1789  to  the 
present  time,  with  the  exception  of  occasional  re- 
verses, the  town  has  advanced  regularly  in  num- 
bers and  wealth. 

In  looking  back  upon  those  periods  of  the  history 
of  New  England  and  of  the  United  States,  when 
any  of  the  great  interests  of  the  country  were  es- 
pecially endangered,  it  is  gratifying  to  see, — and  it 
deserves  at  this  time  to  be  commemorated, — that 
New  Haven  has  furnished  men,  who  have  worthily 
acted  their  part,  and  left  bright  examples  for  the 
imitation  of  posterity.  No  military  expedition  ever 
excited  such  efforts  in  New  England,  or  was  at- 
tended with  such  strong  hopes  mingled  with  well 
grounded  fears,  as  that  sent  against  Louisbourg  in 
1745.     On  the  capture  of  that  fortress,  the  security 

*  2  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  218.— Sec.  Series. 


68 

of  the  country  from  French  ascendency,  and  its 
consequent  freedom,  were  justly  supposed  to  de- 
pend. Of  the  several  colonies  invited  to  engage  in 
this  great  enterprise,  those  of  New  England  alone 
had  the  honor  of  achieving  the  conquest.  The 
commander  of  the  Connecticut  sloop  of  war  em- 
ployed in  conveying  the  troops  of  this  colony  to  the 
scene  of  action,  was  David  Wooster,  of  New  Ha- 
ven. By  his  skill  and  intrepidity,  both  on  the  pas- 
sage, and  after  his  arrival,  he  acquired  great  rep- 
utation, and  gave  an  earnest  of  his  subsequent  em- 
inence. In  the  northern  campaign  of  1755,  and 
of  several  succeeding  years,  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  military  commander;  and  in  the  war  of 
the  revolution,  he  fell  in  battle,  fighting  for  the  lib- 
erties of  his  country. 

Nathan  Whiting  of  New  Haven,  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1755,  led  a  regiment  enlisted  in  this  town 
and  vicinity,  to  the  Canadian  frontier.  He  was  in 
the  detachment  sent  from  fort  Edward,  by  Sir  Wil- 
liam Johnson,  against  Baron  Dieskau.  In  the  un- 
fortunate rencontre  which  followed,  Col.  Whiting, 
after  the  fall  of  Col.  Williams  his  superior  officer, 
took  the  command  of  the  troops,  now  thrown  into 
disorder ;  and  by  his  skill  and  intrepidity  effected 
a  most  difficult  and  successful  retreat.  In  the  cam- 
paigns of  several  succeeding  years,  he  was  esteemed, 
both  by  the  British  and  Americans,  an  officer  of 
uncommon  merit.  In  Connecticut  he  acquired 
great  popularity ;  and  among  other  honorable 
marks  of  respect,  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  le- 
gislature for  his  numerous  and  faithful  services. 


69 

When  the  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  colonies,  was  about  coming  to  an  open  rupture, 
and  the  first  continental  congress  assembled  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Roger  Sherman,  of  New  Haven,  was  de- 
puted by  the  legislature  of  Connecticut,  to  be  a 
member  of  that  body.  Among  other  proofs  of  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  that  assembly 
of  statesmen  and  patriots,  this  may  be  mentioned, 
that  he  was  appointed  on  the  committee  to  prepare 
the  celebrated  declaration  of  independence.  He 
was  one  of  the  convention,  which  formed  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States ;  was  a  member  of  the 
first  house  of  representatives,  and  afterwards  was 
elected  to  the  senate ;  and  thus  bore  an  important 
part  in  organizing  the  government.  No  man  in 
Connecticut,  ever  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the 
people  of  the  state  more  entirely,  or  for  a  longer 
period,  than  Roger  Sherman.  Where  he  doubted, 
who  ventured  to  be  positive?  where  he  saw  his 
way  clear,  who  hesitated  to  follow  ?  In  the  whole 
course  of  his  public  life,  Roger  Sherman  never 
failed  to  leave  in  those  with  whom  he  had  inter- 
course, an  impression  of  deep  sagacity,  and  stern  in- 
tegrity ;  and  he  bequeathed,  as  a  public  man,  to 
those  who  should  come  after  him,  the  character  of 
a  great,  and  what  is  much  more  rare,  of  an  honest, 
politician. 

If  we  look  likewise  to  the  commercial  and  eco- 
nomical interests  of  our  own,  and  of  other  countries, 
who  stands  higher  as  a  public  benefactor,  than  our 
late  fellow  citizen,  Eli  Whitney  ?  How  large  a  part 
of  the  United  States  is  indebted  for  all  its  prosper- 
ity, to  his  inventive  genius  ?     The  commerce,  the 


70 

business  of  the  world,  has  been  essentially  modified 
and  increased  through  the  operation  of  his  princi- 
pal invention,  the  cotton-gin ;  and  the  substantial 
convenience  and  enjoyment  of  mankind  have,  by 
the  same  means,  been  extended  and  are  extending, 
to  a  degree,  which  no  man  can  calculate. 

Another  of  our  citizens,  lately  removed  from  us, 
and  who  by  a  long  course  of  eminent  public  ser- 
vices, proved  himself  one  of  the  benefactors  of  his 
age  and  country,  deserves  an  honorable  mention 
on  the  present  occasion.  You  have,  no  doubt,  all 
anticipated  me  in  the  name  of  James  Hillhouse. 
Where  have  we  seen  more  energy  of  action  than  in 
that  man  ?  more  public  spirit,  or  a  greater  readi- 
ness on  any  emergency,  to  make  personal  sacri- 
fices ?  To  pass  by  his  various  praise-worthy  efforts 
of  a  more  public  and  general  character ;  the  name 
of  James  Hillhouse,  in  what  he  accomplished  for 
the  ornament,  the  convenience,  and  the  solid  pros- 
perity of  our  town,  in  all  its  departments,  can  never 
be  separated  from  that  of  New  Haven. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said,  on  this  general  review  of 
the  history  of  our  city  for  the  last  two  centuries, 
that  our  predecessors,  in  many  of  their  plans  and 
endeavors,  are  indeed  deserving  of  praise ;  and  that 
even  the  first  colonists,  in  some  respects,  did  well ; 
but  that  we  could  have  done  better.  The  faults  of 
the  puritans,  some  may  say,  we  could  certainly 
have  avoided ;  and  their  good  deeds  were  so  obvi- 
ously according  to  the  dictates  of  common  sense, 
so  clearly  expedient,  proper  and  right,  that  the  au- 
thors of  them  are  scarcely  entitled  to  much  credit ; 
and  that,  in  fact,  their  most  commendable  proceed- 


71 

ings  are  so  counterbalanced  by  those  of  a  question- 
able character,  or  which  plainly  deserve  censure, 
that  we  shall,  upon  the  whole,  treat  them  most  equi- 
tably and  kindly,  by  suffering  them  to  pass  silently 
into  forgetfulness. 

It  has  been  no  part  of  my  object,  on  this  occa- 
sion, to  hold  up  the  first  settlers  of  New  Haven,  and 
of  New  England,  as  spotless  characters,  and  the 
proper  subjects  of  indiscriminate  commendation. 
The  great  outlines  of  their  proceedings  I  have  en- 
deavored to  draw  truly  and  distinctly,  that  you  may 
yourselves  judge  of  their  deserts,  rather  than  to 
forestall  opinion  by  general  and  unqualified  pane- 
gyric. The  puritans  of  New  England  laid  the 
foundations  of  free  communities,  free  in  a  sense, 
which  the  world  had  never  known,  or  even  ima- 
gined to  be  possible.  Can  any  one  deny  this  ?  or 
granting  it,  withhold  the  meed  of  applause  ?  They 
devised  and  executed  a  plan  of  universal  education, 
suited  to  their  circumstances,  and  essential  to  the 
support  of  their  social,  civil,  and  religious  institu- 
tions. Is  there  here  any  room  for  doubt  ?  and  if 
not,  who  can  resist  their  claim  to  the  gratitude  of 
their  posterity  ?  They,  from  the  first,  both  by  pre- 
cept and  example,  taught  their  descendants  to  be 
jealous  of  their  rights,  to  guard  their  privileges 
with  ever  wakeful  solicitude,  and  to  maintain 
those  principles  in  religion,  government  and  mor- 
als, which  form  the  only  sure  foundation  of  public 
prosperity.  On  what  page  of  their  history,  do  we 
find  reason  to  question  this  ?  And  if  allowed,  who 
will  assert,  that  the  memory  of  such  men  should  be 
suffered  to  pass  into  oblivion  ?  or  be  retained  only 


72 

with  cold  indifference  ?  Admit  that  they  were  too 
exclusive  in  their  religion,  that  they  were  believers 
in  witchcraft,  and  that  their  laws,  were  in  some 
cases  too  severe  and  even  sanguinary ;  it  is  still 
true,  that  they  were  in  advance  of  their  age ;  and,  if 
their  conduct  is  brought  to  the  standard  of  their 
own  time,  that  they  must  be  acquitted.  It  will  be 
urged,  perhaps,  that  they  were  fanatics.  But  when, 
or  where,  did  their  fanaticism  show  itself?  Do  we 
ever  find  them  relying  on  dreams,  or  immediate  rev- 
elations ?  or  appealing  to  an  internal  light,  which 
afforded  no  external  indications  of  wisdom  ?  Of  all 
men,  they  were  the  most  remote  from  such  vagaries. 
But  grant,  that  we  could  now  do  better  than  our 
pilgrim  fathers, — and  with  their  conduct  for  our 
guide,  we  ought  certainly  to  do  as  well, — we  have 
full  opportunity  still  to  show  our  ability  and  our 
benevolence,  in  providing  for  the  good  of  those 
who  shall  come  after  us.  Our  country  is  yet  in  its 
infancy.  America  is  still  emphatically  the  new 
world.  The  present  population  of  these  United 
States  is  very  inconsiderable,  compared  with  that 
towards  which  it  is  rapidly  approaching.  Those, 
who  one  hundred  years  from  this  day,  shall  assem- 
ble here,  for  the  same  purpose  for  which  we  have 
come  together,  will  find  in  what  is  now  the  terri- 
tory of  this  Union,  more  than  two  hundred  mil- 
lions of  inhabitants.  They  will  look  upon  our  pres- 
ent number,  as  we  look  upon  the  early  colonists,  as 
the  mere  germ  of  a  future  nation.  What,  I  would 
ask,  is  to  be  the  condition  of  our  country,  when 
every  hill  and  valley,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific,  shall  be  covered  with  a  dense  population? 


73 

What  new  and  clashing  interests  will  exist  ?  What 
new  causes  of  harmony,  union  and  peace?  or  of 
jealousy,  discord  and  war  ?  Who,  in  these  respects, 
can  predict  the  future  fortunes  of  our  country? 
Who  can  descry  with  distinctness,  the  condition  of 
even  the  next  generation  ?  The  elements  of  that 
political,  commercial,  physical  and  moral  influence, 
which  is  operating  so  widely  and  powerfully  for 
weal  or  woe,  are  too  numerous  and  complicated  to 
admit  of  being  easily  or  satisfactorily  combined,  in 
calculating  our  national  progress  and  destiny.  We 
sometimes  wonder,  that  the  early  emigrants  to 
New  England,  appear  to  have  conceived  so  imper- 
fectly of  the  magnitude  of  the  work,  which  they  had 
begun ;  and  that  the  future,  to  so  great  a  degree, 
was  veiled  from  their  eyes.  Perhaps,  notwithstand- 
ing our  greater  proneness  to  speculate  on  the  causes 
of  national  changes,  and  our  efforts  to  scrutinize 
the  designs  of  providence,  we  are  groping  in  still 
thicker  darkness ;  and  the  events  of  the  two  next 
centuries  may  be  far  more  remote  from  our  ken, 
than  were  those  of  the  two  last  centuries  from  the 
view  of  our  fathers. 

But  far  from  this  occasion  be  all  anticipations  of 
evil.  Our  country  has  hitherto  risen  above  dis- 
aster ;  and  when  most  exposed  to  hazard,  and  ap- 
parently on  the  verge  of  ruin,  it  has  seemed  to  defy 
danger,  and  triumph  in  success.  We  all  have  it  in 
our  power  to  contribute  to  its  prosperity  in  times 
long  after  us.  Never  was  a  wider  field  open  for 
human  effort,  in  laying  a  broad  and  firm  foundation 
for  an  immense  civil  and  moral  superstructure. 
Let  all,  who  would  improve  on  the  system  of  our 

10 


74 

ancestors,  enter  on  their  work.  In  the  meantime, 
those  who  prefer  the  old  paths,  may  continue  to 
favor  universal  education ;  to  diffuse  among  all 
classes  of  the  community  a  knowledge  of  their 
rights  and  privileges,  and  cherish  a  disposition  to 
defend  them;  to  strengthen  the  feeling  of  obliga- 
tion in  all  to  perform  their  duties  to  God  and  man ; 
and  then  leave  the  event  to  Him,  who  sees  the  end 
from  the  beginning,  and  who  orders  all  things 
right. 


NOTES 


Note  A. 

Dr.  Trumbull  states  incorrectly,  that  Gov.  Eaton  "  was  educated 
an  East  India  merchant,  and  was  sometime  deputy  governor  of  the 
company  trading  to  the  East  Indies."*  The  true  reason  without 
doubt,  of  his  mistake,  has  been  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Savage,  in  his 
very  valuable  edition  of  Gov.  Winthrop's  Journal.  He  says,  this 
"  error  arose  probably  from  the  appellation  of  East  country,  used 
by  Mather,  from  the  universal  custom  of  England,  for  the  regions 
bordering  on  the  Baltic"!  This  editor  is  less  successful  in  an  at- 
tempt,  on  the  same  page,  to  correct  what  he  supposes  to  be  a  mis- 
take of  Dr.  Trumbull  respecting  the  Rev.  Samuel  Eaton,  brother  of 
the  Governor.  Gov.  Winthrop  has  recorded,  that  "  another  min- 
ister" besides  Mr.  Davenport,  came  to  New  England  with  Mr.  Ea- 
ton and  Mr.  Hopkins.  This  other  minister,  according  to  Dr.  Trum- 
bull, was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Eaton.  On  this  Mr.  Savage  remarks: 
"  The  author  [Dr.  Trumbull]  might  have  read  in  Mather,  that  Sam- 
uel Eaton  died  9th  January,  1CC5,  at  Denton  in  Lancashire."  But 
there  is  no  inconsistency  in  the  fact,  that  Samuel  Eaton  died  in  Eng- 
land in  1665,  and  the  fact,  that  he  came  to  America  in  1637.  In- 
deed, Mather  mentions  his  residence  in  this  country 4  The  Rev. 
Samuel  Eaton  signed  the  New  Haven  "  fundamental  agreement ;" 
and  Gov.  Eaton,  in  his  will,  refers  to  his  "  brother,  Mr.  Samuel  Ea- 
ton, while  he  was  resident  in  New  England." 

A  few  additional  notices  of  Gov.  Eaton,  and  his  family,  may  not 
be  out  of  place  here.  Gov.  Eaton  was  twice  married.  His  second 
wife  was  the  widow  of  David  Yale,  Esq.  and  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Morton,  bishop  of  Chester.  At  the  time  of  this  marriage,  Mrs.  Ea- 
ton had  three  children,  David  Yale,  Thomas  Yale,  and  Ann  Yale; 
to  whom,  says  Mather,  Mr.  Eaton  "  became  a  most  exemplary,  liv- 

*  Hist,  of  Connect.  Vol.  I.  Chap.  xi.  t  Vol.  I.  223. 

%  Magnal.  Book  III.  213. 


76 

ing,  [loving]  and  faithful  father."*  Edward  Hopkins  married  Ann, 
and  the  three  children  came  to  New  England  with  their  mother.  On 
the  death  of  Gov.  Eaton,  his  widow  returned  to  England  ;  and  her  two 
sons  David  and  Thomas  Yale,  and  her  daughter,  Hannah  Eaton, 
returned  with  her.  Gov.  Hopkins  and  his  wife  had  gone  to  Eng- 
land some  time  before.  Elihu  Yale,  afterwards  Governor  of  fort  St. 
George  in  the  East  Indies,  and  Governor  of  the  East  India  company, 
and  from  whom  Yale  College  has  its  name,  was  about  ten  years  old, 
when,  with  his  father  Thomas  Yale,  he  left  New  Haven.  A  second 
Thomas  Yale,  most  probably  a  son  of  the  first  Thomas  Yale,  re- 
mained in  New  Haven,  where  he  died  in  1683.  From  him,  those 
of  the  name  of  Yale  in  New  Haven  and  in  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, are  supposed  to  be  descended. 

Gov.  Eaton,  in  his  will,  names  three  children  only ;  all  without 
doubt,  who  were  then  living.t  These  three  were  Theophilus,  Mary, 
and  Hannah.  Theophilus,  a  son  by  his  first  marriage,  came  to 
New  England,  but  returned,  and  lived  in  Dublin.  Mary  was  mar- 
ried to  Valentine  Hill,  and  removed  to  Piscataqua  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Hannah  went  to  England,  as  above  stated.  Ann  Eaton, 
widow  of  Gov.  Eaton,  died  in  London,  1659.  Her  daughter,  Han- 
nah Eaton,  married  William  Jones,  Esq.  an  English  lawyer;  and 
with  her  husband  came  to  New  Haven  in  1660,  where  they  occu- 
pied the  former  residence  of  Gov.  Eaton.  They  sailed  from  Eng- 
land in  the  same  ship  with  the  regicides,  Col  Whalley  and  Col. 
Goffe ;  which  circumstance  probably  had  some  influence  in  bringing 
the  regicides  to  New  Haven.  Mr.  Jones  was  chosen  a  magistrate 
in  New  Haven,  in  1662,  and  Lieutenant  Governor  in  1664.  He 
was  afterwards  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Connecticut ;  and  acquired 
great  respectability  and  influence,  both  in  the  town  and  colony. 

*  Magnal.  Book  II.  27. 

t  Of  Gov.  Eaton's  children,  who  died  before  him,  his  son  Samuel  was  the 
most  distinguished.  He  was  born  in  London,  1620,  and  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  1649.  In  April,  1654,  the  people  of  NewT  Haven  were 
thrown  into  great  agitation  on  hearing  "  that  Mr.  Samuel  Eaton,  son  of  our 
governor,  is  now  sent  for  into  the  Bay,  which  if  attended  to,  they  feared 
they  may  be  deprived,  not  only  for  the  present,  but  for  the  future,  of  the 
helpfulness  which  they  have  hoped  for  from  him;  and  considering  the  small 
Dumber  of  first  able  helps  here  for  the  work  of  magistracy  for  the  present, 
who  also  by  age  are  wearing  away,"  they  offered  him  the  place  of  magis- 
trate ;  and  to  this  station  he  was  elected  in  May  of  the  same  year.  lie  and 
his  wife,  died  within  two  days  of  each  other,  June,  1655. 


77 

Governor  Eaton  died  in  New  Haven,  January  7th,  1658,*  in  the 
67th  year  of  his  age.  At  the  first  General  Court  after  his  death, 
May  26th,  1658,  it  was  voted  to  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
The  record  is  in  the  following  words.  "  This  court  calling  to  mind 
the  good  service  done  to  this  colony  by  our  late  Honorable  Gover- 
nor, did  order,  that  a  comely  tomb,  such  as  we  are  capable  of,  shall 
be  made  over  his  grave."  The  monument  was  a  sandstone  table, 
on  which  was  this  inscription  : — 

"  Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq.  Gov. 
Deceased  Jan.  7th,  1657.  [8] 

Eaton  so  fam'd,  so  wise,  so  meek,  so  just, 
The  Phoenix  of  our  world,  here  hides  his  dust, 
This  name  forget  New  England  never  must." 

Gov.  Jones  died  in  New  Haven,  17th  October,  1706,  aged  82, 
and  Hannah  Jones,  1st  May,  1707,  aged  74.  They  were  buried, 
one  on  the  right,  and  the  other  on  the  left,  of  Gov.  Eaton  ;  and  to  the 
former  inscription,  the  following  was  added  : — 

"  T' attend  you,  Sir,  under  these  framed  stones, 
Are  come  your  honor'd  son  and  daughter  Jones, 
On  each  hand  to  repose  their  wearied  bones." 

This  notable  triplet,  as  Dr.  Dwight  once  told  me,  was  the  produc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  James  Pierpont.  The  lines  on  Gov.  Eaton  must 
have  come  under  the  inspection  of  Mr.  Davenport;  but  whether  he 
was  the  author  of  them,  can  be  conjectured  only.  The  stone  has 
been  removed  to  the  new  burying  ground,  and  the  old  inscriptions 
erased,  to  the  regret  of  the  lovers  of  genuine  antiquity.  The  inscrip- 
tion on  Gov.  Eaton  has  been  re-engraved.  The  descendants  of  Gov. 
Jones  are  numerous. 

Note  B. 

It  is  recorded  in  Gov.  Winthrop's  Journal,  that  on  the  30th  of 
March,  1638,  the  colony  for  Quinnipiac  left  Boston.  This  date  is 
given  without  any  qualification  ;  and  no  reason  appears  for  question- 
ing its  correctness.     Dr.  Trumbull,  in  his  history  of  Connecticut, 

*  According  to  the  old  mode  of  dating,  this  was  in  1657,  and  Dr.  Trumbull 
has  so  stated  it ;  probably  taking  the  year  from  the  inscription  on  the  monu- 
ment. The  time  of  his  death  is  plain  from  the  records.  He  held  several 
courts  in  1657  ;  the  last,  in  October  of  that  year. 


78 

says,  that  "  on  the  30th  of  March,  1638,  Mr.  Davenport,  Mr.  Prudden, 
Mr.  Samuel  Eaton,  and  Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq.,  with  the  people  of 
their  company,  sailed  from  Boston  for  Quinnipiac.  In  about  a  fort- 
night, they  arrived  at  their  desired  port.  On  the  18th  of  April,  they 
kept  their  first  sabbath  in  the  place.  The  people  assembled  under 
a  large  spreading  oak,  and  Mr.  Davenport  preached  to  them  from 
Matthew  vi.  1.  He  insisted  on  the  temptations  of  the  wilderness, 
made  such  observations,  and  gave  such  directions  and  exhortations 
as  were  pertinent  to  the  then  present  state  of  his  hearers.  He  left 
this  remark,  that  he  "  enjoyed  a  good  day."* 

On  what  authority  Dr.  Trumbull  gave  this  account,  except  as  to 
the  day  when  the  expedition  left  Boston,  does  not  appear.     The  day 
of  sailing  may  have  been  taken  from  Winthrop.     But  there  is  noth- 
ing in  the  colony  records,  Winthrop's  Journal,  Morton's  Memorial, 
Hubbard's  History  of  New  England,  or  any  similar  work  which  I 
have  examined,  respecting  the  duration  of  the  voyage,  or  the  time  of 
the  arrival  of  the  colonists  at  their  place  of  destination.     That  Dr. 
Trumbull  relied  in  this  part  of  his  narrative  on  some  written  docu- 
ment,  may  be  inferred  from  its  particularity,  as  it  is  too  minute  in 
its  statements  for  mere  tradition,  and  from  what  he  says  of  Mr.  Dav- 
enport, that  "  he  left  the  remark,  that  he  enjoyed  a  good  day."    The 
words  "  he  left  the  remark,"  indicate  that  it  was  in  some  diary,  or 
memorandum.     Dr.  Trumbull  collected  most  of  the  materials  for  the 
first  volume  of  his  history,  as  early  as  1/74,  and  was  much  aided  in 
his  undertaking  by  the  first  Gov.  Trumbull,  who  possessed  numerous 
documents  to  illustrate  the  early  history  of  Connecticut.     There  is 
no  improbability,   therefore,  in  the  supposition,   that  Dr.  Trumbull 
had  means  of  exact  information  on  this  subject,  which  are  now  un- 
known.    He  says  likewise,  in  the  preface  to  his  history,  "  that  very 
little   has  been   taken  on  tradition ;"  and  wherever  he  relates  any 
thing  on  the  ground  of  tradition,  he  appears  careful  to  state  the  fact. 
But  on  whatever  authority  Dr.  Trumbull   relied,  it  cannot  be  true, 
that  the  colonists,  as  he  says,  "  kept  their  first  sabbath,"   in  Quin- 
nipiac on  the  18th  of  April ;  as  the  18th  of  April,  1038,  was  Wednes- 
day.    If  they  were  about  a  fortnight  on  the  voyage,  this  "  first  sab- 
bath" must  have  been  either  the  15th  or  the  22d  day  of  the  month. 
If  a  memorandum  of  the  day  was  made  at  the  time,  as  is  not  improb- 
able, in  transcribing,  15  might  easily  be  mistaken  for  18,  much  more 

*  Hist,  of  Connect.  Vol.  I.  Chap.  vi. 


79 

easily  than  22  would  be  mistaken  for  this  number ;  and  the  same  is 
true,  if  the  information  came  down  by  tradition.  Another  solution 
of  this  difficulty  is,  and  perhaps  as  probable  as  any,  that  18  is  a  typo- 
graphical error  for  15.  But  that  the  15th  was  really  the  day,  is 
pretty  plainly  indicated  by  the  language,  that  the  colonists  were 
"about  a  fortnight"  on  their  voyage.  The  30th  of  March,  1638, 
was  Friday;  a  fortnight  from  this  time  was  the  13th  of  April.  If 
the  expedition  arrived  on  the  12th,  13th,  or  14th  of  the  month,  the 
phrase  "  about  a  fortnight,"  as  commonly  used,  would  be  very  natu- 
rally employed  to  designate  the  time.  If  the  arrival  was  so  late  as 
the  next  week,  in  marking  the  time,  instead  of  "  about  a  fortnight," 
it  would  rather  be  said,  that  they  were  more  than  a  fortnight,  or 
nearly  three  weeks,  on  their  passage.  These  considerations  do  not 
lead  to  an  infallible  conclusion,  but  the  balance  of  probabilities 
clearly  inclines  to  the  15th  of  April,  1638,  as  the  "  first  sabbath" 
kept  in  this  town  by  the  original  settlers.  As  it  appears  about 
equally  probable,  that  the  colony  arrived  on  the  12th,  13th,  or  14th 
of  the  month,  it  was  impossible  to  select  the  day  of  arrival,  as  the 
time  to  celebrate  the  planting  of  the  colony.  The  assembling  on 
the  15th,  it  was  thought  might  be  taken  without  much  chance  of 
error,  as  the  first  act  of  the  whole  body  of  the  colonists,  and  the  time, 
in  which  European  civilization  commenced  in  Quinnipiac. 

As  ten  days  are  allowed  for  the  difference  of  style  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  15th  of  April,  1638,  corresponds  to  the  25th  of 
the  same  month,  according  to  our  present  mode  of  reckoning. 

There  is  a  common  error  in  changing  dates  of  the  seventeenth 
century  to  the  mode  of  reckoning  now  in  use.  Thus,  in  fixing  the 
day,  in  some  places,  for  celebrating  the  second  centennial  anniver- 
sary, eleven  days,  and  in  other  places,  twelve  days  have  been  added 
to  the  old  date.  No  one,  who  will  look  at  the  reason  of  the  thing, 
can  doubt,  that  ten  days  is  the  real  difference.  The  ground  of  this 
conclusion,  may  be  exhibited  in  the  following  popular  manner.  The 
year  of  the  seasons  may  be  taken  at  365  days,  5  hours,  48  minutes, 
50  seconds.  This  multiplied  by  200,  gives  73048  days,  leaving  out 
the  fraction  of  a  day.  From  the  15th  of  April,  1638,  to  the  15th 
of  April,  1838,  200  years  of  365  days,  6  hours  have  been  reckoned; 
that  is,  73050,  except,  that  in  1752,  when  the  style  was  altered, 
eleven  days  were  omitted ;  and  in  1800  one  day  was  omitted,  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  now  observed.  The  actual  time,  therefore,  al- 
lowed from  April  15th,  1638,  to  April  15th,  1838,  is  73038  days. 


80 

But  this  is  ten  days  less  than  200  years,  as  appears  above.  Adding, 
therefore,  ten  days  to  the  15th  of  April,  1838,  the  day  of  the  close  of 
the  two  hundredth  year  from  the  15th  of  April,  old  style,  1638,  is 
obtained. 

As  the  year  of  the  seasons  is  less,  than  the  common  civil  year,  or 
365  days,  6  hours,  it  is  obvious,  that  the  farther  we  go  back,  the 
less  difference  there  will  be  in  the  two  modes  of  computing  time ; 
till  we  arrive  at  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  when  the  two 
modes  will  coincide,  or  no  addition  will  be  required  to  be  made  to 
old  style.  Or,  if  the  present  rule  of  regulating  the  calendar  had  been 
adopted  at  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  what  was  called  the 
15th  of  April,  1638,  would  have  been  the  25th  of  the  same  month 
and  year. 

There  appears  to  be  another  error  in  the  extract  above  from  Dr. 
Trumbull,  which  is  probably  typographical ;  and  which  may  not  im- 
properly be  noticed  here.  He  says  that  Mr.  Davenport  preached 
from  Matthew  vi.  1,  and  "  insisted  on  the  temptations  of  the  wilder- 
ness." The  verse  referred  to  is,  "  Take  heed,  that  you  do  not  your 
alms  before  men,  to  be  seen  of  them ;  otherwise  ye  have  no  reward 
of  your  father,  which  is  in  heaven."  But  how  this  should  lead  to  a 
discourse  on  the  temptations  of  the  wilderness,  is  not  obvious.  The 
probability  is,  that  instead  of  vi.  we  should  read  iv. ;  and  Matt.  iv.  1, 
is,  "  Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be 
tempted  of  the  devil."  The  object  of  the  preacher  might  be  to  show, 
that  though  his  hearers  were  in  the  wilderness  of  America,  tempta- 
tions still  beset  them.  Others  say,  that  the  text  of  Mr.  Davenport 
was  Matt.  iii.  1,  which  is,  "In  those  days  came  John  the  Baptist, 
preaching  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea."  "We  have  here,  indeed,  a 
wilderness,  but  there  is  no  distinct  reference  to  temptation. 

Note  C. 

The  only  authority,  which,  it  is  believed,  can  be  found,  on  which 
a  charge  of  injustice  towards  the  Indians  in  the  New  Haven  colony, 
can  be  founded,  is  "  The  General  History  of  Connecticut,"  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Peters.  This  author  says — "Exact  in  tything  mint  and 
anise,  the  furies  of  New  Haven  for  once  affected  the  weightier  mat- 
ters of  justice.  They  had  no  title  to  the  land  :  they  applied  to  Quin- 
nipiog,  the  sachem,  for  a  deed  or  grant  of  it.  The  sachem  refused 
to  give  the  lands  of  his  ancestors  to  strangers.     The  settlers  had 


81 

teeming  inventions,  and  immediately  voted  themselves  to  be  the 
children  of  God,  and  that  the  wilderness  in  the  utmost  parts  of  the 
earth,  was  given  to  them.  This  vote  became  a  law  forever  after.  It 
is  true,  Davenport  endeavored  to  christianize  Quinnipiog,  but  in 
vain  :  however,  he  converted  Sunksquaw,  one  of  his  subjects,  by  pres- 
ents and  great  promises;  and  then  Sunksquaw  betrayed  his  mas- 
ter, and  the  settlers  killed  him.  This  assassination  of  Quinnipiog 
brought  on  a  war  between  the  English  and  Indians,  which  never 
ended  by  treaty  of  peace.  The  Indians,  having  only  bows  and  ar- 
rows, were  driven  back  into  the  woods ;  whilst  the  English  with 
their  swords  and  guns,  kept  possession  of  the  country.  But  con- 
scious of  their  want  of  title  to  it,  they  voted  Sunksquaw  to  be  Sachem, 
and  that  whoever  disputed  his  authority  should  suffer  death.  Sunk- 
squaw, in  return,  assigned  to  the  English  those  lands,  of  which  they 
had  made  him  Sachem.  Lo!  here  is  all  the  title  the  settlers  of  the 
Dominion  of  New  Haven,  ever  obtained."*  The  only  apology  for 
quoting  this  passage,  and  others  like  it,  from  such  an  author,  is,  that 
his  representations  seem  to  have  gained,  in  some  instances,  a  partial 
credit.  But  the  story  here  told  is  an  entire  fabrication  ;  there  being 
no  foundation  whatever  for  it  in  fact.  The  Indian  deed  to  the  Eng- 
lish, of  the  territory  of  Quinnipiac,  is  on  record  ;  and  the  convey- 
ance was  made  by  eight  Sachems,  one  of  whom  was  a  female.  No 
mention  is  made  in  the  records,  or  in  any  other  writings,  before  this 
History  by  Peters  was  published,  of  any  such  Sachem  as  Quinnipiog, 
or  Sunksquaw,  or  of  any  contest  with  the  Indians.  All  the  records, 
traditions,  and  the  accounts  published  in  the  other  colonies,  which 
have  any  relation  to  the  transactions  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  Ha- 
ven with  the  natives,  are  irreconcilable  with  this  story.  It  is  the 
sheer  production  of  malice  and  resentment,  and  made  up  in  utter 
disregard  of  truth.  The  same  author  says,  that  Mr.  Davenport  and 
others  set  up  a  " heavenly  title"  to  the  lands  of  the  Indians;  and 
thus  "  syllogistically  stated  it" — "  The  Heathen  are  driven  out,  and 
ice  have  their  lands  in  possession  ;  they  were  numerous,  and  we  but  a 
few;  therefore  the  Lord  hath  done  this  great  tcork,  to  give  his  be- 
loved'rest.' 'f  This  again  has  not  the  slightest  support  from  fact. 
That  Mr.  Davenport,  and  the  other  early  puritan  ministers  in  Con- 
necticut and  New  Haven,  considered  the  Indians  the  rightful  owners 
of  the  soil,  and  maintained  that  lands  should  be  bought  of  them  by 

*  65.  t  4G. 

11 


82 

fair  purchase,  is  proved  by  all  the  evidence  which  the  case  admits  of, 
or  requires.  Peters  likewise  makes  Mr.  Davenport's  "  tyrannical 
conduct"*  one  of  the  causes  of  the  war  with  the  Pequods,  and  the 
destruction  of  Sassacus.  The  Pequod  war,  however,  was  nearly 
terminated,  before  Mr.  Davenport  arrived  in  America;  and  ended 
the  summer  before  he  came  to  Q,uinnipiac.  All  the  other  represen- 
tations, by  the  same  writer,  respecting  the  treatment  of  the  Indians 
by  the  English,  are  equally  destitute  of  truth.  Another  statement  of 
Peters,  connected  in  some  measure  with  the  foregoing,  is  the  follow- 
ing. '  The  first  colonizers  of  Connecticut — by  their  iniquitous  art 
of  making  Sachems,  have  entailed  law-suits  without  end  on  their  pos- 
terity ;  for  there  is  not  one  foot  of  land  in  the  whole  province,  which 
is  not  covered  by  ten  deeds  granted  by  ten  different  nominal  Sachems 
to  ten  different  persons;  and  what  aggravates  the  misfortune,  the 
courts  of  justice  differ  every  session  concerning  the  true  Sachem ;  so 
that  what  the  plaintiff  recovers  at  a  hearing  before  one  jury,  he  loses 
upon  a  re-hearing  before  another. "t 

Perhaps,  if  the  whole  Union  were  examined  for  this  purpose,  no 
state  would  be  found  where  so  little  litigation  has  existed  respecting 
original  land-titles,  as  in  Connecticut.  No  individual  could  purchase 
land  of  the  Indians  without  permission  of  the  magistrates.  Deeds 
also  were  always  recorded  in  public  offices,  where  they  were  open  to 
the  inspection  of  every  one.  No  such  fraudulent  conveyances  as  de- 
scribed above,  could  have  existed.  This  whole  representation  is  a 
fiction  of  the  historian.  J 

Note  D. 

In  the  harbor  of  New  Haven,  great  alterations  have  been  produ- 
ced by  the  accumulation  of  earth  in  the  inlets,  chiefly  by  the  action 
of  the  small  streams.  The  low  grounds  at  the  southwest  of  George 
street,  two  hundred  years  ago,  were  covered  so  deep  with  water,  that 
such  vessels  as  were  used  for  transporting  the  colony,  lay  there  with- 
out difficulty  ;  and  even  within  eighty  years,  where  the  canal  now 
passes  towards  the  harbor,  large  sail-boats  came  with  ease,  as  high 
as  Chapel  street.     But  these   obstructions  to   a  ready  access  from 

*  55.  1  43. 

t  The  quotations  from  this  author  air  made  from  the  edition  of  his  History, 
published  in  New  Haven  in  1829.  For  the  general  character  of  the  work, 
sec  Note  G. 


83 

the  town  to  navigable  water,  which  have  been  gradually  formed, 
though  to  be  regretted,  have  yet  left  the  actual  site  of  the  town  the 
most  eligible,  which  could  be  chosen  on  the  shores  of  the  New  Ha- 
ven bay. 

Note  E. 

Reference  is  here  made  to  a  treatise  by  Mr.  Davenport,  entitled, 
"A  discourse  about  civil  government  in  a  new  plantation,  whose  de- 
sign is  religion" — "  in  the  title  page  whereof,"  says  Mather,*  "  the 
name  of  Mr.  Cotton,  is,  by  mistake,  put  for  that  of  Mr.  Davenport." 
The  copy  of  this  curious  and  valuable  pamphlet,  which  I  have  had 
the  opportunity  of  consulting,  belongs  to  the  library  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,  Boston. 

Note  F. 

The  names  of  the  seven  men,  who  have  been  usually  called  the 
"  seven  pillars,"  are  placed  in  the  colony  records  in  the  following 
order :  "  Mr.  Theophilus  Eaton,  Mr.  John  Davenport,  Mr.  Robert 
Newman,  Mr.  Matthew  Gilbert,  Thomas  Fugill,  John  Punderson 
and  Jeremy  Dixon." 

Note  G. 

The  work,  which  more  than  any  other,  has  given  currency  to  va- 
rious misrepresentations  respecting  the  New  Haven  colony,  is  that 
commonly  known  as  "  Peters's  History  of  Connecticut."  The  au- 
thor, Dr.  Samuel  Peters,  at  the  commencement  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  was  an  episcopal  missionary  at  Hebron  in  Connecticut.  As  he 
was  very  active  in  asserting  the  royal  claims,  he  became  obnoxious 
to  the  patriots  of  the  day.  He  was  threatened  by  a  mob ;  though 
it  is  believed,  no  personal  violence  was  done  him.  About  1774  he 
went  to  England,  highly  exasperated  against  his  country,  and  espe- 
cially against  his  native  state,  Connecticut.  He  employed  himself, 
while  the  war  continued,  in  reviling  the  colonists;  and  in  1781  pub- 
lished in  London  without  his  name,  what  he  called  "  A  general  His- 
tory of  Connecticut,  from  its  first  settlement  under  George  Fenwick 
Esq.,  to  its  latest  period  of  amity  with  Great  Britain;  including  a 

*  Book  III.  56. 


84 

description  of  the  country,  and  many  curious  and  interesting  anec- 
dotes." When  this  work  first  appeared,  its  extravagances  and  false- 
hoods v/ere  so  apparent  and  gross,  that  any  attempt  to  contradict  or 
expose  them,  was  considered  unnecessary  and  superfluous.  The 
work  was  evidently  designed  chiefly,  to  render  the  people  of  Con- 
necticut odious  and  despicable  abroad  ; — but  its  abuse  was  so  outrage- 
ous, and  its  statements  so  opposed  to  the  most  notorious  facts,  that 
even  with  respect  to  foreigners,  it  was  thought  to  need  no  refutation. 
There  were,  however,  in  Connecticut,  at  the  time  this  pretended 
History  appeared,  individuals  who  sympathized  strongly  with  its  au- 
thor. They  had  cherished  the  same  antipathies  and  resentments  as 
Peters  himself;  and  as  the  English  interest  declined  in  the  United 
States,  they  were  glad  to  seize  even  upon  such  support,  as  this  mis- 
erable farrago  afforded  them.  Its  stories  were  to  their  taste ;  and 
they  repeated  them  so  often,  as  apparently  to  create  in  themselves  a 
sort  of  belief  in  the  truth  of  some  of  them.  The  credit,  however, 
acquired  by  this  work  was  never  extensive ;  and  its  real  character 
has  been  generally  too  well  understood  to  call  for  direct  animadver- 
sion. Dr.  Trumbull  once  told  me,  in  reply  to  the  question,  why  in 
his  History  of  Connecticut,  he  had  made  no  allusion  to  this  work  of 
Dr.  Peters, — that  he  had  considered  a  reference  to  it  as  wholly  unne- 
cessary ;  since  any  one,  on  very  slight  examination,  would  see  that  it 
was  refuted  in  so  many  of  its  statements  by  indubitable  public  doc- 
uments, that  it  could  gain  no  credit.  He  said,  that  he  had  been  well 
acquainted  with  Dr.  Peters  from  very  early  life,*  that  they  were  con- 
temporary in  college,!  and  that  an  occasional  intercourse  between 
them  had  been  maintained,  till  Dr.  Peters  went  to  England  in  1774. 
He  added,  that  of  all  men,  with  whom  he  had  ever  been  acquainted, 
Dr.  Peters,  he  had  thought,  from  his  first  knowledge  of  him,  the  least 
to  be  depended  upon  as  to  any  matter  of  fact ;  especially  "  in  story-tell- 
ing." A  more  particular  notice  of  this  "  History  of  Connecticut" 
might  perhaps  be  omitted  here ;  but  it  has  been  thought  best  to  point 
out  a  few  of  its  errors ;  as  by  the  progress  of  time,  the  real  charac- 
ter of  the  work  is  now  less  perfectly  understood,  than  when  it  was 
first  published. 

The  account  which  the  author  gives  of  the  first  settlement  of  Con- 
necticut, is  filled  with  mistakes.     He  says,  that  "  in  1G34,  the  first 

*  I  think  In-  stated  that  they  were  both  natives  of  Hebron. 

t  Dr.  Peters  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1757,  Dr.  Trumbull  in  1759., 


85 

part  of  English  adventurers  arrived  in  Connecticut  from  England, 
under  the  conduct  of  George  Fenwick,  Esq.,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Peters,  and  established  themselves  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Connec- 
ticut ;  where  they  built  a  town  which  they  called  Saybrook,  a  church 
and  a  fort."*     The  foft  at  Saybrook,  however,  was  begun  near  the 
close  of  the  year  1635,  under  the  direction  of  John  Winthrop,  Esq. 
George  Fenwick  first  arrived  in  America  in  1C39,  and  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Peters  with  him.     Peters  staid  but  about  three  years  in  the 
country,  and  much  of  this  time  he  spent  at  Pequod,  or  New  London. 
It  is  related  likewise  in  this  history,  that  "  Thomas  Peters  establish- 
ed a  school  in  Saybrook,  which  his  children  had  the  satisfaction  to 
see  become  a  college,  denominated  Yale  College." — "  At  his  death, 
which  did  not  happen  till  after  the  restoration  of  Charles  II,  he  be- 
queathed his  library  to  the  school  above  mentioned."!     There  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence,  that  there  was  any  early  school  in  Saybrook, 
higher  than  a  common  school ;  or  any  school  whatever,  to  which 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Peters  left  a  library.     As  to  Yale  College,  it  was 
founded  and  incorporated  without  any  reference  to  Saybrook ;  and 
it  owed  its  origin  in  no  sense,  to  any  school  before  existing  there, 
or  any  where  else.     This  story  was  probably  told  to  give  in  England 
the  credit  of  beginning  the  college  to  one  of  the  name  of  Peters. 
This  same  author  says,  that  Connecticut  on  the  arrival  of  the  Eng- 
lish, had  "  three  kings,  viz.  Connecticote,  Quinnipiog  and  Sassa- 
cus,  of  whom  Connecticote  was  Emperor,  or  king  of  kings. "J     It 
has  been  stated  above  in  Note  C,  that  no  such  Sachem  as  Quinni- 
piog ever  existed.     As  little  evidence  is  there,  that  there  ever  was 
any  such  "  king  of  kings"   as  Connecticote.     Peters  adds, — "  The 
religious  institutions  of  Hooker  at  Hartford,  ....  extended  to  the 
great  Connecticote  himself.    The  Sachem  did  not  like  his  new  neigh- 
bors ;  he  refused  to  give  or  sell  any  land  to  them  ;  but  told  them,  that 
as  they  came  to  trade,  and  to  spread  the  christian  religion  among  his 
subjects,  which  Mr.  Hooker  defined  to  consist  only  in  peace,  love  and 
justice,  he  had  no  objection  to  their  building  wigwams,  planting  corn, 
and  hunting  on  his  lands.    The  wisdom  and  steady  temper  of  this  great 
Sachem,   and  the  vast  number  of  subjects  at  his  command,  made 
Haynes  and  Hooker  cautious  in  their  conduct."     "  Having  converted 
over  to  the  christian  faith  some  few  Indians,    among  whom  was 
Joshua,  an  ambitious  captain  under  the  great  Sachem  Connecticote, 

*  31.  t  57.  t  45. 


86 

Hooker,  Huet,  Smith  and  others,  hereby  found  means  to  spread  the 
gospel  into  every  Indian  town,  and,  to  the  eternal  infamy  of  chris- 
tian policy,  those  renowned,  pious  fathers  of  this  new  colony,  with 
the  gospel,  spread  the  small  pox.  This  distemper  raged  in  every  cor- 
ner ;  it  swept  away  the  great  Sachem  Connecticote,  and  laid  waste 
his  ancient  kingdom.  Hereupon,  Haynes  and  his  assembly  pro- 
claimed Joshua,  Sachem;  and  such  as  did  not  acknowledge  his 
Sachemic  power,  were  compelled  to  suffer  death,  or  fly  the  dominion. 
Thus  in  three  years  time,  by  the  gospel  and  fanatic  policy,  was  de- 
stroyed Connecticote,  and  laid  waste  his  ancient  kingdom."*  All 
this  is  gross  and  palpable  falsehood.  There  is  no  evidence,  from  any 
record  or  history  preceding  this  work  of  Peters,  that  any  part  of  this 
story  is  true.  On  the  contrary,  all  existing  records  and  early  histo- 
ries of  the  transactions  of  Gov.  Haynes  and  Mr.  Hooker  with  the 
Indians,  are  wholly  inconsistent  with  this  representation. 

An  author  who  could  coolly  fabricate  such  slander,  has  no  claim 
to  be  believed  in  any  statements,  on  any  subject.  A  farther  notice 
of  the  work,  therefore,  might  be  dispensed  with ;  but  a  reference  to 
a  few  more  passages  will  satisfy,  it  is  believed,  the  most  incredulous, 
that  no  injustice  has  been  done  Dr.  Peters,  in  what  has  now  been 
said  of  his  history.  His  description  of  the  country,  and  anecdotes 
of  towns  and  individuals,  are  as  extravagant  as  they  are  absurd  and 
silly.  Thus,  in  his  account  of  Connecticut  river,  he  says,  that  about 
two  hundred  miles  from  the  Sound,  the  water  passes  through  a 
chasm,  formed  by  "two  shelving  mountains  of  solid  rock,"  and  "is 
consolidated,  without  frost,  by  pressure,  by  swiftness,  between  the 
pinching  sturdy  rocks,  to  such  a  degree  of  induration,  that  an  iron 
crow  floats  smoothly  down  its  current;  here  iron,  lead,  and  cork, 
have  one  common  weight :  here,  steady  as  time,  and  harder  than 
marble,  the  stream  passes  irresistible,  if  not  swift  as  lightning: — the 
electric  fire  rends  trees  in  pieces  with  no  greater  ease,  than  does 
this  mighty  water."t  Yet  on  this  water,  "  harder  than  marble,"  a 
squaw,  he  informs  his  readers,  passed  through  this  chasm,  in  a  ca- 
noe. The  author  describes  a  pond  in  the  town  of  Windham,  as 
"three  miles  square;"  which,  in  fact,  is  about  half  a  mile  in  length, 
and  varying  in  breadth,  from  ten  to  fifty  or  sixty  rods.  New  Haven, 
he  says,  is  built  on  a  plain,  which  is  "  divided  into  three  hundred 
squares,  of  the  size  of  Bloomsbury-square,  with  streets  twenty  yards 

*  59.  t  110. 


87 

wide  between  each  division.  Forty  of  these  squares  are  already 
built  upon,  having  houses  of  brick  and  stone  on  each  front,  above 
five  yards  asunder  :  every  house  with  a  garden,  that  produces  vege- 
tables sufficient  for  the  family.  Two  hundred  houses  are  annually 
erected."*  New  Haven,  at  the  time  this  was  written,  had  probably 
not  more  than  four  hundred  and  twenty  houses,  ten  or  twelve  of 
which  may  have  been  of  brick  or  stone. 

One  great  object  of  this  history  is,  to  detail  the  sufferings  of  the 
episcopal  missionaries,  which,  as  the  author  represents,  they  endured 
for  their  loyalty.     One  story  of  this  kind  is  the  following. 

"In  July,  1776,  the  congress  having  declared  the  independency 
of  America,   and  ordered   the  commonwealth  to  be  prayed  for,  in- 
stead of  the  king  and  royal  family,  all  the  loyal  episcopal  churches 
north  of  the  Delaware,  were  shut  up ;  except  those  immediately  un- 
der the  protection  of  the  British  army,  and  one  at  Newtown  in  Con- 
necticut, of  which  last  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Beach  was  the  Rector; 
whose  gray  hairs  adorned  with  loyal  and  christian  virtues,  overcame 
even  the  madness  of  the  Sober  Dissenters.     This  faithful  disciple 
disregarded  the  congressional  mandate,  and  praying  for  the  king  as 
usual,   they  pulled  him  out  of  his  desk,  put  a  rope  about  his  neck, 
and  drew  him  across  Osootonoc  river,  at  the  tail  of  a  boat,  to  cool  his 
loyal  zeal,  as  they  called  it ;  after  which  the  old  Confessor  was  per- 
mitted to  depart,  though  not  without  a  prohibition  to  pray  longer  for 
the  king.     But  his  loyal  zeal  was  insuperable.     He  went  to  church, 
and  prayed  again  for  the  king ;   upon  which  the  Sober  Dissenters 
again  seized  him,  and  resolved  upon  cutting  out  his  tongue ;  when 
the  heroic  veteran  said,  if  my  blood  must  be  shed,  let  it  not  be  done 
in  the  house  of  God.     The  pious  mob  then  dragged  him  out  of  the 
church,  laid  his  neck  on  a  block,  and  swore  they  would  cut  off  his 
head,"  &.c.f     This  whole  story  is  without  any  foundation  in  truth. 
No  such  treatment  of  Mr.  Beach  ever  occurred.     The  episcopal  cler- 
gy in  Connecticut,  in  the  revolution,  were  believed  to  be  honest  in 
their  loyalty ;  and  where  they  took  no  active  part  in  resisting  the 
popular  measures,  they  were  not  molested.     If  such  men  as  Mr. 
Beach,  Dr.  Mansfield,  Mr.  Learning,  and  others  mentioned  by  Pe- 
ters, had  suffered  abuse,  the  most  zealous  patriots  would  have  acted 
in  their  defense. 

There  is  one  more  story,  which,  from  its  relation  to  New  Haven, 
may  be  thought  to  merit  some  attention.     It  is  this.     "  An  English 

*  147.  t  300. 


88 

gentleman,"  says  Peters,  "  of  the  name  of  Grigson,  coming  in  his 
travels  to  New  Haven,  about  the  year  1644,  was  greatly  pleased  with 
its  pleasant  situation ;  and  after  purchasing  a  large  settlement,  sent 
to  London  for  his  wife  and  family.  But  before  their  arrival,  he  found 
that  a  charming  situation,  without  the  blessing  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  would  not  render  him  and  his  family  happy :  he  resolved, 
therefore,  to  quit  the  country,  and  return  to  England,  as  soon  as  his 
family  should  arrive,  and  accordingly  advertised  his  property  for  sale  ; 
when  lo !  agreeable  to  one  of  the  Blue  Laws,  no  one  would  buy,  be- 
cause he  had  not,  and  could  not,  obtain  liberty  of  the  select-men  to 
sell  it.  The  patriotic  virtue  of  the  select-men  thus  becoming  an  in- 
surmountable bar  to  the  sale  of  his  New  Haven  estate,  Mr.  Grigson 
made  his  will,  and  bequeathed  part  of  his  lands  towards  the  support 
of  an  episcopal  clergyman,  who  should  reside  in  that  town,  and  the 
residue  to  his  own  heirs.  Having  deposited  his  will  in  the  hands  of 
a  friend,  he  set  sail  with  his  family  for  England,  but  died  on  the  pas- 
sage. This  friend  proved  the  will,  and  had  it  recorded,  but  died  also 
soon  after.  The  record  was  dexterously  concealed  by  glueing  two 
leaves  together ;  and,  after  some  years,  the  select-men  sold  the  whole 
estate  to  pay  taxes ;  though  the  rent  of  Mr.  Grigson's  house  alone,  in 
one  year,  would  pay  the  taxes  for  ten.  Some  persons,  hardy  enough 
to  exclaim  against  this  glaring  injustice,  were  soon  silenced,  and  ex- 
pelled the  town.  In  1750,  an  episcopal  clergyman  was  settled  in 
New  Haven  ;  and  having  been  informed  of  Grigson's  will,  applied  to 
the  town  clerk  for  a  copy,  who  told  him,  there  was  no  such  will  on 
record,  and  withal  refused  him  the  liberty  of  searching.  In  1768, 
Peter  Harrison,  Esq.  from  Nottinghamshire,  in  England,  the  King's 
collector  of  New  Haven,  claimed  his  right  of  searching  public  rec- 
ords ;  and  being  a  stranger,  and  not  supposed  to  have  any  knowledge 
of  Grigson's  will,  obtained  his  demand.  The  alphabet  contained 
Grigson's  name,  and  referred  to  a  page,  which  was  not  to  be  found 
in  the  book.  Mr.  Harrison  supposed  it  to  have  been  torn  out ;  but, 
on  closer  examination,  discovered  one  leaf  much  thicker  than  the 
others.  He  put  a  corner  of  the  thick  leaf  in  his  mouth,  and  soon 
found  it  was  composed  of  two  leaves,  which  with  much  difficulty 
having  separated,  he  found  Grigson's  will !  To  make  sure  of  the 
work,  he  took  a  copy  of  it  himself,  and  then  called  the  clerk  to 
draw  and  attest  another,  which  was  done.  Thus  furnished,  Mr. 
Harrison  instantly  applied  to  the  select-men,  and  demanded  a  sur- 
render of  the  land,  which  belonged  to  the  church,  but  which  they  as 


89 

promptly  refused  ;  whereupon  Mr.  Harrison  took  out  writs  of  eject- 
ment against  the  possessors.  As  might  he  expected,  Mr.  Harrison, 
from  a  good  man,  became  in  ten  days  the  worst  man  in  the  world ; 
but,  being  a  generous  and  brave  Englishman,  he  valued  not  their 
clamors  and  curses,  though  they  terrified  the  gentlemen  of  the  law. 
Harrison  was  obliged  to  be  his  own  lawyer,  and  boldly  declared  he 
expected  to  lose  his  cause  in  New  England ;  but  after  that,  he  would 
appeal,  and  try  it  at  his  own  expense  in  England,  where  justice 
reigned.  The  good  people,  knowing  Harrison  did  not  get  his  bread 
by  their  votes,  and  that  they  could  not  baffle  him,  resigned  the  lands 
to  the  church,  on  that  gentleman's  own  terms."* 

Now  for  the  facts.  Thomas  Gregson  was  one  of  the  company  of 
Mr.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport,  and  came  with  them  to  America  in 
1637.  He  was  among  the  first  planters  in  New  Haven  in  1638,  was 
very  early  elected  a  magistrate ;  and  what  shows  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held,  he  was  appointed  to  act  with  Gov.  Eaton  as  a 
commissioner  in  1643,  in  forming:  a  union  of  the  New  England  col- 
onies.  In  January,  1647,  Mr.  Gregson  sailed  for  England;  not 
leaving  New  Haven  in  disgust,  but  with  a  commission  to  procure  a 
charter  for  the  colony,  if  possible,  and  "  from  the  parliament."  That 
such  a  man,  who  was  one  of  the  leading  puritans  in  New  England, 
should  have  left  behind  him  a  will,  by  which  part  of  his  property  was 
to  be  applied,  in  the  manner  stated  by  Peters,  is  a  story  which,  on 
the  face  of  it,  is  utterly  incredible.  The  same  thing  might  as  easily 
be  believed  of  Gov.  Eaton,  or  Mr.  Davenport.  But  no  such  will  was 
left;  and  of  course  it  was  never  concealed,  or  found.  If  the  holders 
of  the  property  were  ejected  in  1768,  the  records  of  some  court  ought 
to  show  the  fact.  But  no  such  record  exists ;  and  the  whole  story, 
so  circumstantially  told,  is  a  gratuitous  falsehood. 

It  seemed  the  more  necessary  to  remark  on  the  subject  of  this 
will,  as  in  the  New  Haven  edition  of  Peters's  History,  published  in 
1829,  the  editor  says  in  the  preface,  "  It  certainly  contains  some 
facts,  such  as  the  history  of  Grigson's  will  and  some  others,  which 
cannot  be  gainsaid ;  as  they  have  happened  within  the  recollection 
of  many  persons  now  living."  Who  was  the  author  of  this  preface, 
I  know  not.  That  Dr.  Peters  himself,  who  was  in  New  Haven  a 
few  years  before  it  appeared,  left  this  declaration  as  his  last  legacy 
to  posterity,  is  one  among  several  conjectures  on  this  subject,  which 

*  150. 
12 


90 


might  be  made.  But  the  assertion,  that  there  were  many  persons 
living  in  New  Haven,  in  1829,  within  whose  recollection  it  hap- 
pened,— a  recollection  extending  through  one  hundred  and  eighty  five 
years, — that  Thomas  Gregson  made  a  will  soon  after  1644,  and  that 
he  left  it  with  a  friend,  when  there  is  no  record  evidence  that  such  a 
will  was  ever  made  or  left ;  that  he  should  have  been  induced  to  make 
this  will  by  the  tyrannical  conduct  of  the  select-men  of  New  Haven, 
when  there  is  the  best  historical  proof,  that  no  such  functionaries  as 
select-men  existed  in  the  colony ;  that  this  will  should  have  been 
found  in  176S,  and  the  property  resigned  to  the  church,  when  there 
is  no  record  that  any  such  will  ever  was  found,  or  that  the  property 
is,  or  ever  was,  held  by  any  person  or  persons,  under  such  will,  is  in 
admirable  keeping  with  the  history  which  it  precedes. 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,  of  New  Haven,  episcopal  missionary, 
brought  from  London  a  deed,  dated  March  26th,  1736,  executed  by 
William  Gregson,  who  describes  himself  as  great  grandson  of  Thomas 
Gregson ;  by  which  instrument,  the  said  William  Gregson  conveyed 
all  his  interest  in  a  lot  of  land,  which  belonged  to  his  ancestor,  to 
Mr.  Arnold  in  trust,  for  the  use,  on  certain  conditions,  of  an  epis- 
copal society,  which  should  be  formed  in  New  Haven.  But  the  land 
was  never  held  by  this  deed.  Though  this  conveyance  by  William 
Gregson  is  not  alluded  to  by  Peters,  it  may  be  proper  to  add,  that 
the  pages  of  the  public  records,  where  the  deed  may  be  found,*  have 
[June  6th,  1838]  as  little  the  appearance,  as  any  other  part  of  the 
volume,  of  ever  having  had  any  adhesive  substance  applied  to  them. 

On  examining  the  more  prominent  statements  of  Peters,  not  one 
has  been  found,  which  is  not  either  false,  or  so  deformed  by  exag- 
gerations and  perversions,  as  to  be  essentially  erroneous.  To  prove 
a  truth  upon  the  leading  portions  of  his  history,  would  be,  it  is  be- 
lieved, an  impossible  task. 

Note  H. 

Mr.  Davenport's  efforts  in  favor  of  education  in  New  Haven,  ap- 
pear throughout  the  colonial  records.  His  design  was,  to  have  first, 
common  schools,  then,  grammar  schools,  and  finally  a  college. 
Common  schools  were  immediately  begun.  By  a  donation  of  Gov. 
Hopkins,  obtained  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Davenport, 

*  Vol.  X.  520. 


91 

a  grammar  school  was  established ;  and  a  foundation  for  a  college 
was  hid  by  a  grant  from  the  town  of  New  Haven.  No  improvement 
has  been  made  on  this  original  plan  by  Mr.  Davenport ;  and  to  this 
day,  it  has  never,  so  far  as  it  respects  grammar  schools,  been  fully 
executed.  As  a  specimen  of  the  early  proceedings  on  this  subject, 
an  extract  follows  from  the  record  of  "  a  town  meeting,  held  in  New 
Haven,  February  7th,  1667"  [8]. 

"Mr.  John  Davenport,  senior,  came  into  the  meeting,  and  desired 
to  speak  something  concerning  the  school ;  and  first  propounded  to 
the  town,  whether  they  would   send  their  children  to  the  school,  to 
be  taught  for  the  fitting  them  for  the  service  of  God,  in  church  and 
commonwealth.     If  they  would,  then,  he  said,  that  the  grant  of  that 
part  of  Mr.  Hopkins  his  estate,  formerly  made  to  this  town,  stands 
good ;  but  if  not,  then  it  is  void ;   because  it  attains  not  the  end  of 
the  donor.     Therefore,  he  desired  they  would  express  themselves. 
Upon  which  Roger  Ailing  declared  his  purpose  of  bringing  up  one 
of  his   sons  to  learning;    also  Henry  Glover  one  of  Mr.  William 
Russell's,  John  Winston,  Mr.  Hodshon,  Thomas  Trowbridge,  David 
Atwater,  Thomas  Meeks  [Mix]  ;   and  Mr.  Augur  said  that  he  in- 
tended to  send  for   a  kinsman  from  England.     Mr.  Samuel  Street 
declared,  that  there  were  eight  at  present  in  Latin,  and  three  more 
would  come  in  summer,   and   two   more  before  next  winter.     Upon 
which  Mr.  Davenport  seemed  to  be  satisfied;    but  yet  declared,  that 
he  must  always  reserve  a  negative  voice,  that  nothing  be  done  con- 
trary  to  the  true  intent  of  the  donor,   and  it  [the  donation]  be  im* 
proved  only  for  that  use,  and,  therefore,  while  it  can  be  so  improved 
here,  it  shall  be  settled  here.     But  if  New  Haven  will  neglect  their 
own  good  herein,  he  must  improve   it  otherwhere,  unto  that  end  it 
may  answer  the  will  of  the  dead.     His  desire  was,  that  a  farm  may 
be  purchased,  that  the  revenues  of  it  may  ease  the  town ;  and  there- 
fore propounded,  that  if  any  knew  of  any  farm  to  be  purchased,  they 
would  acquaint  the  committee  with  it;  and  then  desired  to  know, 
whether  the  town  would  grant  this  to  be  recorded,  with  this  condi- 
tion.    The  town  fell  into  some  debate  about  it,  and  so  nothing  was 
done  further  at  this  time." 

What  was  accomplished  at  this  town  meeting  went  beyond  mere 
declarations.  There  was  action  as  well  as  profession.  James  Ai- 
ling, son  of  Roger  Ailing,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1679. 
James  Ailing  was  a  congregational  minister  in  Salisbury,  Massachu- 
setts. His  father,  Roger  Ailing,  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  "  fun- 
damental agreement." 


92 

Noadiah  Russell,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1681, 
was  son  of  William  Russell,  and  grandson  of  James  Russell,  one  of 
the  first  planters.  Mr.  Glover  was  named  guardian  of  Noadiah  Rus- 
sell, in  the  will  of  his  father,  William  Russell.  Noadiah  Russell 
was  minister  of  Middletown,  and  was  a  man  of  great  respectability 
and  influence. 

Nathaniel  Hodson,  whose  name  appears  in  the  Harvard  Cata- 
logue, as  one  of  the  class  of  1693,  was  the  son  of  John  Hodson  or 
Hodgson,  merchant,  of  New  Haven.  The  will  of  John  Hodson  is 
dated  July,  1690,  and  in  it,  provision  is  made  for  the  college  expenses 
of  his  son  Nathaniel.  Of  the  subsequent  history  of  Nathaniel  Hod- 
son, I  am  ignorant. 

Stephen  Mix,  minister  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College,  1690,  and  was  son  of  Thomas  Mix  of  New 
Haven.  The  Rev.  Stephen  Mix  was  one  of  the  most  able  of  the 
Congregational  ministers  of  his  time. 

The  advantage  to  the  colony  from  this  single  effort  in  favor  of  lib- 
eral education,  cannot  easily  be  estimated.  The  reason  that  so  many 
belonging  to  New  Haven,  were  educated  at  Harvard  before  the  year 
1700,  is  found  chiefly  in  the  zeal  and  widely  extended  influence  of 
Mr.  Davenport.  To  make  a  complete  catalogue  of  these  students 
is  difficult ;  most  of  their  names  however  are  probably  contained  in 
the  following  list.  Besides  the  four  just  mentioned,  and  Samuel  Ea- 
ton referred  to  in  Note  A,  who  was  of  the  class  of  1649,  Isaac  Aller- 
ton,  a  graduate  of  1650,  was  the  son  of  Isaac  Allerton  of  New  Ha- 
ven. Isaac  Allerton,  senior,  came  to  Plymouth  in  the  May-Flower 
in  1620.  He  removed  to  New  Haven  soon  after  the  planting  of  the 
colony,  where  he  continued  till  his  death,  which  took  place  early  in 
the  year  1659.  He  names  his  son  Isaac  in  his  will.  That  this  Isaac 
Allerton  of  New  Haven  is  the  same  who  was  at  Plymouth,  is  evident 
from  the  circumstance,  that  in  his  will,  he  refers  to  his  brother  Brews- 
ter ;  and  it  appears  from  Morton's  Memorial,  that  Isaac  Allerton 
of  Plymouth  married  a  daughter  of  Elder  Brewster.* 

Michael  Wi^glesworth,  of  the  class  of  1651,  and  minister  of  Mai- 
den,  Massachusetts,  was  son  of  Edward  Wigglesworth,  one  of  the 
company  of  Gov.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport.  Edward  Wiggles- 
worth  died  in  New  Haven,  1654.  In  his  will,  mention  is  made  of 
his  son  Michael. 

*  iMorton  by  Davis,  52*21. 


93 

John  Glover  of  the  class  of  1651,  was  probably  the  son  of  Henry 
Glover,  mentioned  above,  as  the  guardian  of  Noadiah  Russell. 

Samuel  Cheever,  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1659,  was  son  of  Eze- 
kiel  Cheever  of  New  Haven.  Ezekiel  Cheever  was  one  of  those 
who  signed  the  "  fundamental  agreement"  in  1639.  He  was  the 
New  Haven  school-master,  till  about  the  year  1650,  when  he  removed 
to  Massachusetts.  His  son,  Samuel  Cheever,  was  minister  at  Mar- 
blehead,  where  he  died  1724,  aged  85. 

Compensantius  [Recompense]  Osborn,  of  the  class  of  1661,  was 
probably  the  son  of  Thomas  Osborn,  one  of  the  original  New  Ha- 
ven planters.  The  son  taught  a  school  in  New  Haven  the  year  af- 
ter he  graduated.  Thomas  Osborn  and  this  son  removed  to  East 
Hampton,  Long  Inland. 

Samuel  Street  of  the  class  of  1664  was  son  of  the  Rev.  Nicholas 
Street,  teacher  of  the  church  of  New  Haven.  Samuel  Street  was 
minister  at  Wallingford. 

John  Harriman,  who  was  graduated  1667,  was  the  son  of  John 
Harriman  of  New  Haven.  He  taught  for  several  years  the  Hopkins 
Grammar  School  in  New  Haven,  and  was  the  first  minister  of  Eliz- 
abethtown,  New  Jersey. 

John  Davenport,  of  the  class  of  1687,  was  a  grandson  of  John 
Davenport  of  New  Haven.  His  father's  name  was  John,  and  he  was 
born  about  the  time  the  family  removed  to  Boston.  He  taught  in 
the  Grammar  School  in  New  Haven  several  years  after  his  gradua- 
tion, and  was  minister  at  Stamford. 

Samuel  Mansfield,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1690, 
was  son  of  Moses  Mansfield  of  New  Haven.  He  taught  in  the 
Hopkins  Grammar  School  several  years,  and  then  went  into  the  West 
India  trade.     He  died  in  1701. 

Joseph  Moss,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  1699,  was  grandson  of  John 
Moss,  one  of  the  first  planters  of  New  Haven.  Joseph  Moss  was 
likewise  an  instructor  in  the  Grammar  School,  and  afterwards  min- 
ister of  Derby.  No  clergyman  in  his  time  had  a  higher  reputation 
in  Connecticut,  than  Mr.  Moss. 

Of  the  graduates  of  Harvard  College,  from  its  foundation  to  the 
year  1700,  as  many  as  one  in  thirty,  at  least,  were  from  the  town  of 
New  Haven.  When  it  is  considered,  that  so  late  as  the  year  1700, 
the  number  of  inhabitants  in  New  Haven,  could  have  very  little,  if 
at  all,  exceeded  five  hundred,  this  fact  deserves  notice.  The  expla- 
nation is  found  in  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Davenport,  which  continued 


94 

to  produce  their  effect  long  after  his  death.  Indeed,  his  influence  in 
favor  of  liberal  education  has  never  ceased ;  but  commencing  in  the 
infancy  of  the  colony,  has  with  the  progress  of  time,  and  the  increase 
of  population,  been  more  and  more  strengthened,  and  more  widely 
diffused. 

In  confirmation  of  the  statement  on  page  43,  as  to  the  extent  to 
which  common  schoool  education  has  been  carried  in  Connecticut,  I 
would  add,  that  a  gentleman,  who  for  half  a  century,  has  been  as  ex- 
tensively conversant  in  the  courts  of  the  State,  and  in  the  business  of 
public  offices,  as  any  other,  lately  informed  me,  that  he  had  never 
met  in  the  course  of  his  business,  with  a  native  of  Connecticut,  who 
could  not  read  ;  and  with  but  two,  who  could  not  write.  The  late 
Judge  Reeve  of  Litchfield,  after  forty  years'  experience  in  the  courts 
of  Connecticut,  remarked,  that  in  his  business,  he  had  met  with  three 
natives  of  the  State  who  could  not  write ;  but  with  no  one  who  could 
not  read. 

Note  I. 

As  at  the  time  of  the  planting  of  the  Connecticut  and  New  Haven 
colonies,  all  were  in  religious  profession,  congregational ists;  there 
was  no  reference  in  the  laws  for  the  support  of  ministers,  to  those 
who  should  dissent  from  the  common  faith.  When  the  commission- 
ers of  Charles  II.,  visited  Connecticut  in  16G5,  they  say  in  their  nar- 
rative, that  the  colony  of  Connecticut  "  will  not  hinder  any  from  en- 
joying the  sacraments  and  using  the  common  prayer  book,  provided 
that  they  hinder  not  the  maintenance  of  the  public  minister."* 
They  could  not  mean  by  this,  that  there  was  any  direct  provision  in 
the  laws  of  Connecticut,  at  that  time,  to  this  effect;  but  the  commis- 
sioners were  probably  assured,  that,  whenever  any  in  the.  colony 
should  desire  to  adopt  in  their  worship,  the  ritual  of  the  English 
church,  they  would  not  be  disturbed ;  and  that  the  laws  would  be 
changed  in  conformity  with  such  a  new  state  of  things.  There  was 
no  Episcopal  church  erected  in  Connecticut  till  about  the  year  1723, 
in  Stratford  ;  though  divine  service  had  been  occasionally  performed, 
according  to  the  forms  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  the  same  town, 
for  several  years  before. 

In  1727  it  was  enacted,  that  "  if  it  so  happen,  that  there  be  a  soci- 
ety of  the  church  of  England,  where  there  is  a  person  in  orders  ao 


K  Hutch.  Coll.  412. 


95 

cording  to  the  canons  of  the  church  of  England,  settled  and  abi- 
ding among  them,  and  performing  divine  service,  so  near  to  any  per- 
son that  hath  declared  himself  of  the  church  of  England,  that  he 
can  conveniently,  and  doth  attend  the  public  worship  there,"  what- 
ever tax  he  shall  pay  for  the  support  of  religion  shall  be  delivered  "  unto 
the  minister  of  the  church  of  England,"  etc.  Those  who  conformed 
to  the  church  of  England  were  at  the  same  time  authorized  to  tax 
themselves  for  the  support  of  their  clergy,  and  were  "excused  from 
paying  any  taxes  for  building  meeting  houses,"  etc.  In  1729,  the  Qua- 
kers, a  very  few  of  which  sect  lived  on  the  borders  of  Rhode  Island, 
were  exempted,  on  certain  conditions,  from  paying  taxes  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  congregational  ministers,  and  for  building  meeting  hous- 
es ;  and  the  same  year,  the  Baptists,  who  had  two  small  congrega- 
tions in  the  county  of  New  London,  received  the  same  indulgence. 
At  this  time  there  were  in  Connecticut,  but  two  or  three  congrega- 
tions of  Episcopalians,  and  two  of  Baptists,  all  of  which  were  small, 
and  no  congregation  of  Quakers.  All  the  liberty  was  granted  them, 
which,  it  was  supposed  they  needed,  or  which  was  thought  consistent 
with  the  legal  support  of  the  congregational  clergy.  That  this  relax- 
ation in  the  laws  should  have  been  made,  so  soon  after  their  dissent 
assumed  a  regular  form,  and  probably  on  their  first  application  to  the 
legislature  for  relief,  has  not  been  a  very  common  occurrence  in  re- 
ligious establishments ;  and  is  proof  that  there  prevailed  in  Connecti- 
cut at  the  time,  no  disposition  to  persecute  or  oppress  the  new  sects. 
It  is  true,  that  the  Episcopal  missionaries  complained,  that  they  were 
not  in  every  case  very  cordially  received ;  and  that  the  Congrega- 
tional ministers  warned  the  people  against  attending  on  their  minis- 
trations ;  all  which  is  without  doubt  true.  That  these  ministers  did  not 
show  on  all  occasions  the  meekness,  which  became  them;  that  they 
did  not  take  the  missionaries  by  the  hand,  and  aid  them  in  their  la- 
bors;  that  laymen,  from  over-heated  zeal,  were  sometimes  chargea- 
ble with  indiscretions,  especially  as  the  missionaries  themselves  did 
not  always  use  the  most  guarded  language,  can  be  admitted  on  slight 
proof.  But  the  real  sense  of  the  community,  on  this  subject,  is  not 
to  be  collected  from  the  proceedings  of  individuals,  acting  under 
strong  excitement,  or  misapprehension,  but  from  the  laws;  and  these 
as  generally  executed. 

What  the  Congregational  ministers  and  churches  most  complained 
of,  was,  that  New  England  was  represented  in  the  parent  country, 
as  destitute  to  a  great  extent  of  religious  instruction  ;  whereas  they 


96 

maintained,  that  no  part  of  the  empire  was  better  supplied  with  com- 
petent religious  teachers.  They  affirmed,  that  from  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  country,  the  greatest  efforts  had  been  made  to  secure  a 
well  informed  clergy  ;  and  that  what  the  king's  commissioners  report- 
ed in  16C5,  that,  in  Connecticut,  the  people  had  "  a  scholar  to  their 
minister  in  every  town  or  village,"  was,  in  far  the  greater  part  of 
New  England,  still  true.  That  a  clergy  more  devoted  to  their  proper 
duties,  was  any  where  to  be  found,  they  were  slow  to  admit. 

A  source  of  ill  feeling,  on  both  sides,  existed  in  the  difficulty, 
which  sometimes  occurred,  in  collecting  ecclesiastical  taxes.  A 
meeting  house  was  to  be  built,  or  other  unusual  expense  was  incur- 
red by  a  Congregational  society  ;  and  some,  who  were  opposed  to  the 
proceeding,  would  declare  themselves  Episcopalians  or  Baptists ; 
and  claim,  that  they  ought  to  be  exempted  from  paying  the  new  tax. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained,  that  these  dissidents  should 
pay  all  dues  to  the  time  of  their  conversion  to  the  new  faith.  The 
Episcopalian  would  plead  unwillingness,  and  the  Baptist  conscience; 
but  the  money  was  collected  according  to  law,  and  this  was  called 
persecution.  It  is  from  cases  of  this  kind,  which  were  never  very 
numerous,  that  reports  of  religious  oppression  in  Connecticut  have 
arisen.  The  law  of  1727  was  modified  by  several  successive  acts  of 
the  legislature ;  every  change  being  intended  to  make  a  separation 
from  the  Congregational  churches  more  easy  to  those,  who  wished 
to  leave  them. 

These  dissensions,  if  they  may  be  called  such,  affected  but  a 
small  part  of  the  community ;  and  were  of  short  continuance  in 
any  one  place.  The  congregational  and  episcopal  clergy,  from  the 
first,  often  maintained  a  familiar  intercourse  with  each  other,  and 
showed  on  various  occasions,  a  mutual  respect.  A  large  portion  of 
the  state  knew  little  or  nothing  of  any  controversy  of  different  sects. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  revolution,  the  baptists  had  but  few  congre- 
gations, and  those  mostly  in  one  county.  The  episcopal  churches 
were  chiefly  in  the  counties  of  Fairfield  and  New  Haven.  All  who 
had  separated  from  the  congregationalists,  were,  at  that  time,  but  a 
small  fraction  of  the  whole  population. 

When  the  subject  of  dissent  first  assumed  any  practical  import- 
ance in  Connecticut,  there  were  two  opinions  entertained  as  to  the 
true  course  to  be  adopted.  Some  were  for  supporting  a  proper  eccle- 
siastical establishment.  They  did  not  object  to  the  establishment  in 
England ;    and,  as  all  there  paid  for   the  support  of  the  national 


97 

church,  but  dissenters  were  allowed  a  free  toleration  ;  so  here,  they 
urged  that  all  should  be  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  congre- 
gational clergy;  but  that  whenever  any  dissented  from  the  common 
faith,  they  should  be  allowed  to  worship  as  they  pleased.  But  the 
number  of  those  who  adopted  this  opinion  was  always  small.  A  great 
majority  held  from  the  first,  that  all  should  be  taxed  for  the  main- 
tenance of  religious  worship,  but  that  each  individual  should  control 
the  application  of  his  own  money.  Whatever  difficulties  occurred, 
were  such  as  arose  from  the  execution  of  such  a  system. 

In  the  year  1742,  at  a  period  of  great  religious  agitation,  laws 
were  enacted,  which  bore  with  severity  upon  a  part  of  the  congrega- 
tional clergy  ;  but  affected  not  other  denominations.  These  laws 
continued  in  force,  a  few  years  only.  The  great  body  of  the  con- 
gregational ministers,  without  doubt,  approved  of  the  laws,  which 
had  been  passed  in  favor  of  dissent ;  though  individuals  considered 
them  as  unwise,  and  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  congrega- 
tional system.  The  feeling  of  the  clergy  on  the  subject  of  religious 
liberty,  in  1773,  was  fully  expressed  at  the  General  Convention  at 
Stamford.  In  a  paper  laid  before  that  body,  and  which  appears  to 
have  met  with  their  approbation,  it  is  said,  "  We  have,  indeed,  a  reli- 
gious establishment;  but  it  is  of  such  a  kind,  and  with  such  universal 
toleration,  that  the  consciences  of  other  sects  cannot  be  affected  or 
wounded  by  it,  while  every  one  is  at  perfect  liberty  to  worship  God, 
in  such  way  as  is  most  agreeable  to  his  own  mind.  Whatever  op- 
pressive measures  have  been  heretofore  adopted,  we  recollect  with 
regret  and  disapprobation.  We  rejoice  that  these  have  ceased  ;  and 
that  there  is  such  freedom  of  religious  inquiry  and  worship,  that  no 
man  need  be  in  bondage.  We  desire  not  the  aid  of  other  sects  to 
maintain  our  churches;  and  while  we  stand  fast  in  the  constitution 
we  have  chosen,  and  think  it  in  doctrine  and  discipline  most  agreea- 
ble to  the  scripture,  the  unerring  standard  of  faith  and  worship,  we 
would  not  oppress  others,  nor  be  oppressed  ourselves,  but  exercise 
good  will  and  charity,  to  our  brethren  of  other  denominations,  with 
fervent  prayers,  that  peace  and  holiness,  liberty,  truth  and  purity, 
may  be  established  more  and  more  among  those  that  name  the  name 
of  Christ,  and  be  universally  diffused  among  mankind."  This,  it 
will  be  observed,  was  three  years  before  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence. What  is  here  called  an  establishment,  and  which  was  then 
one  in  name  only,  was,  within  a  few  years,  abolished  ;  and  from 
that  time,  all- sects  were  nominally  as  well  as  really,  on  an  equality 

13 


98 

as  to  legal  privileges.  Mr.  Bancroft,  who  in  his  history  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  has  arrived  at  more  just  conclusions  respecting  reli- 
gious liberty  in  Connecticut,  than  any  one  out  of  this  state,  who 
has  preceded  him,  is  full  in  acquitting  this  commonwealth  of  the 
charge  of  intolerance.*  If  this  historian  had  found  it  consistent 
with  the  plan  of  his  work,  to  enter  more  into  detail  on  this  sub- 
ject, he  could  have  shown,  that  his  opinions  rest  on  indubitable 
facts.  Douglass  remarks  in  his  Summary  ,t  "I  never  heard  of  any 
persecuting  spirit  in  Connecticut ;  in  this  they  are  egregiously  as- 
persed. It  is  true,  that  a  few  years  since,  they  made  some  acts 
against  some  frantic  preachers  and  exhorters,  called  Methodists,  in- 
truding, without  consent,  into  the  pulpits  of  the  established  minis- 
ters." Those,  whom  this  writer  calls  Methodists,  were  known  at 
the  time,  by  the  name  of  "  New  Lights." — Of  the  measures  of  the 
legislature  referred  to,  though  unnecessarily  severe,  yet  as  the  times 
were,  a  too  unqualified  condemnation,  perhaps,  has  sometimes  been 
pronounced.  Dr.  Trumbull,  one  of  the  most  honest  of  historians  as 
to  facts,  has  shown  in  his  narrative  of  the  transactions  of  this  period, 
in  the  opinion  of  some,  a  little  of  the  spirit  of  a  partizan.  He  took 
a  strong  personal  interest  in  some  of  the  events  which  he  narrates; 
and  those,  who  had  an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  him  in  his  old 
age,  on  the  topics  in  question,  must  have  noticed,  that  he  retained 
in  their  entire  strength,  all  his  youthful  impressions.  His  conjec- 
tures respecting  the  transactions  of  the  Guilford  Consociation  in 
1741,|  are  not  entirely  correct;  as  appears  from  the  minutes  of  the 
proceedings  of  that  body;  which  Dr.  Trumbull  could  not  find,  but 
which  have  been  discovered  since. 

No  one,  it  is  hoped,  will  suppose,  that  in  referring  to  the  former 
ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Connecticut,  there  has  been  any  other  ob- 
ject in  view,  than  to  clear  this  part  of  our  history  from  some  misap- 
prehensions. But  a  much  more  extended  view  would  be  necessary 
to  do  this  subject  full  justice.  It  is  an  obvious  remark,  that  many  of 
the  relations  of  different  sects  to  each  other  in  former  times,  have 
ceased  to  exist;  and  that  the  faults  of  none,  originating  in  causes, 
which  no  longer  operate,  should  be  considered  the  inheritance  of  the 
present  generation.  All  have  now  full  opportunity  to  show  the  ex- 
cellencies of  their  respective  systems,  unincumbered  with  the  past. 

Hist,  of  the  U.  States,  Vol.  II.  57.  t  Vol.  I.  135.  t  Vol.  II.  165. 


90 


Note  K. 

At  Plymouth,  October  Gth,  1657,  Humphrey  Norton,  a  quaker, 
was  arraigned  before  the  court,  and  "found  guilty  of  diverse  horrid 
errors,  and  was  sentenced  speedily  to  depart  the  government."*  He 
was  delivered  over  to  the  under-marshall,  who  was  "  required  to  ac- 
company him  as  far  as  Asonett,  towards  Rhode  Island."  He  soon 
after  appeared  on  Long  Island,  at  Southhold,  and  for  his  conduct 
there,  was  sent  to  New  Haven  for  trial.  He  was  brought  before  the 
court,  March  10th,  1658 ;  and  being  asked,  "  what  call  he  had  to 
make  disturbance  at  Southhold,  going  into  the  meeting-house  on  the 
Lord's  day,  and  there  speaking  in  public,  witnessing  against  Mr. 
Young,  the  pastor  of  that  church,  etc. ;  he  would  give  no  answer, 
but  desired  his  charges  might  be  read." — Various  charges  were  then 
produced,  respecting  his  deportment  at  Southhold,  among  which, 
besides  uttering  heretical  opinions,  it  was  alledged,  that  "  he  hath 
endeavored  to  vilify,  or  nullify,  the  just  authority  of  the  magistracy 
and  government  here  settled,"  and  that  "  in  all  these  miscarriages 
he  hath  endeavored  to  disturb  the  peace  of  this  jurisdiction."  There 
seems  to  have  been  no  difficulty  in  establishing  the  truth  of  the  alle- 
gations. The  proceedings  are  quite  characteristic  on  both  sides. 
When  Mr.  Davenport,  who  was  summoned  as  a  witness,  appeared  in 
court,  "the  said  Humphrey  was  so  unruly  with  his  tongue,  making 
disturbance,  as  it  was  much  hindrance  to  Mr.  Davenport  in  speak- 
ing; and  though  he  was  often  by  the  court  commanded  silence,  and 
to  speak  in  an  orderly  way,  yet  he  would  not  attend  it,  but  would  go 
on  in  a  boisterous,  bold,  manner  of  speaking,  uttering  many  words 
full  of  error  and  reproach."  The  spirit,  however,  was  not  uniform 
in  its  movements;  for  afterwards  "  he  was  told  he  might  have  liberty 
to  speak  what  he  had  to  say,  and  some  questions  were  propounded 
unto  him,  but  he  would  not  answer."  On  the  second  day  of  the  trial 
the  court  "proceeded  to  sentence,"  and  say,  that  "they  are  willing 
to  go  in  the  lowest  way  the  case  will  bear,  so  as  they  may  but  dis- 
charge a  good  conscience  towards  God  with  reference  to  such  an 
offender.  But  the  thing  being  of  such  a  nature,  and  carried  with 
such  a  high  hand,  both  before  he  came  hither,  and  since  also,  they 
can  do  no  less,  than  order  and  declare,  that  he  be  severely  whipped ; 

*  Hazard,  Vol.  II.  552. 


100 

and  branded  on  the  hand  with  the  letter  H,  for  spreading  his  heret- 
ical opinions."  He  was  excluded  from  the  jurisdiction,  and  forbid- 
den to  return  under  heavy  penalties.  He  was  likewise  fined  ten 
pounds,  as  "the  jurisdiction  hath  been  put  to  much  trouble  and 
charge  about  him."  The  fine,  one  third  being  deducted,  was  paid 
in  wampum,  by  a  Dutchman  from  Manhadoes,  of  the  name  of  Yoss. 
Norton  appeared  again  at  Plymouth,  in  June  of  the  same  year,  and 
was  again  whipped  there. 

A  letter  from  "the  government  of  Rhode  Island" — "to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Massachusetts,"  dated  October,  1657,  contains  senti- 
ments so  correct,  and  statements,  which  show  so  clearly  the  char- 
acter of  the  quakers,  who  at  that  time  came  into  New  England,  that 
an  extract  is  here  given.  They  say,  "  Concerning  these  quakers,  so 
called,  which  are  now  among  us,  we  have  no  law  among  us,  whereby 
to  punish  any  for  only  declaring  by  words,  &c,  their  minds  and  un- 
derstandings concerning  the  things  and  ways  of  God,  as  to  salvation 
and  an  eternal  condition.  And  we,  moreover,  find,  that  in  those 
places,  where  these  people  aforesaid,  in  this  colony,  are  most  of  all 
suffered  to  declare  themselves  freely,  and  are  only  opposed  by  argu- 
ments in  discourse,  there  they  least  of  all  desire  to  come  ;  and  we 
are  informed,  that  they  begin  to  loath  this  place,  for  that  they  are 
not  opposed  by  the  civil  authority,  but  with  all  patience  and  meek- 
ness are  suffered  to  say  over  their  pretended  revelations  and  admo- 
nitions; nor  are  they  like  or  able  to  gain  many  here  to  their  way. 
Surely  we  find  that  they  delight  to  be  persecuted  by  civil  powers  ; 
and  when  they  are  so,  they  are  like  to  gain  more  adherents  by  the 
conceit  of  their  patient  sufferings,  than  by  consent  to  their  pernicious 
sayings.  And  yet  we  conceive,  that  their  doctrines  tend  to  very  ab- 
solute cutting  down  and  overturning  relations  and  civil  government 
among  men,  if  generally  received."* 

Note  L. 

There  were  several  trials  in  New  Haven,  while  a  distinct  colony, 
in  which  witchcraft  was  a  subject  of  inquiry  indirectly.  Thus  at  a 
court  of  magistrates,  August  4th,  1053,  " Mrs.  Elizabeth  Godman 
charged  Goodwife  Livermore,  that  one  time,  when  she  saw  her  come 
in   at  Goodman  WhitnePs,  she  said,  so  soon   as  she  saw  her,   she 

*  Hazard.  Vol.  II.  552.— Hutch.  Vol.  I.  5'26. 


101 

thought  of  a  witch  :  Goodwife  Livermore  said,  lhat  at  one  time,  she 
had  spoken  to  that  purpose,  &c."  and  then  undertook  to  prove,  that 
there  was  ground  for  her  suspicions.  Much  ridiculous  testimony 
was  introduced.  The  decision  of  the  court  was,  that  Mrs.  Godman's 
"carriage  doth  justly  render  her  suspicious  of  witchcraft,  which  she 
herself  in  so  many  words  confesseth  :  therefore,  the  court  wisheth  her 
to  look  to  her  carriage  hereafter ;  for  if  further  proof  come,  these  pas- 
sages will  not  be  forgotten,  and  therefore  gave  her  charge  not  to  go 
in  an  offensive  way  to  folks'  houses,  in  a  railing  manner,  as  it  seems 
she  hath  done;  but  that  she  keep  her  place  and  meddle  with  her 
own  business."  This,  it  is  believed,  is  as  strong  a  case  of  witchcraft 
as  any  which  ever  came  before  the  New  Haven  courts. 

Dr.  Trumbull,  in  the  preface  to  his  History,  speaks  of  "  an  ob- 
scure tradition,  that  one  or  two  persons  were  executed  at  Stratford" 
for  witchcraft,  but  that  he  could   find  nothing  recorded  on  the  sub- 
ject.    There  is  in  the  New  Haven  records,  indirect  evidence  on 
the  subject,  which  is  thought  to  be  decisive.     Roger  Ludlow,  who 
had  acted  a  distinguished  part  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut,   and 
had  resided  for  some  time  in  Fairfield,  which  belonged  to  that  col- 
ony, in  the  year  1G54  removed  to  Virginia.     At  a  court  of  magis- 
trates in   New  Haven,  May  29th,  of  the  same  year,  Thomas  Sta- 
plies  brought  an  action  of  defamation  against  Mr.  Ludlow  for  saying, 
that  his  (Thomas  Staplies's)  wife,  "had  caused  Knapp's  wife  to  be 
new  searched,  after  she  was  hanged,  and  when   she  saw  the  tcatcs, 
said,  if  the\  were  the  marks  of  a  witch,  then  she  was  one,  or  she  had 
such  marks  ;  secondly,  Mr.  Ludlow  said  Knapp's  wife  told  him,  that 
Goodwife  Staplies  was  a  witch,"  etc.     Mr.  Davenport  was  an  im- 
portant witness  in  this  case,  and  testified,  "  that  Mr.  Ludlow  sitting 
with  him  and  his  wife  alone,  and  discoursing  of  the  passages  con- 
cerning Knapp's  wife,  the  witch,  and  her  execution,"  etc.     A  great 
number  of  witnesses  imply  fully  in  their  testimony,  that  Knapp's  wife 
was  condemned  and  executed  as  a  witch.     It  is  implied   also  in 
testirqpny  given  at  the  same  trial,  that  there  had  been  an  execution 
of  a  Goodwife  Bassett  at  Stratford.      "  Knapp's  wife,"  it  is  clear,  had 
been  tried   by  jury  at  Fairfield  ;    and  it  is  probable,  that  Goodwife 
Bassett  had  her  trial  at  the  same  place;   since  Stratford  was  in  Con- 
necticut, and  Fairfield  was  the  place  where  courts  were  held. 

Mr.  Ludlow  is  known  to  have  carried  with  him  to  Virginia,  the  re- 
cords of  Fairfield ;  and  these  records  were  never  recovered.  This 
may  be  one  reason  of  the  uncertainty  which  has  existed  respecting 


102 

the  fact  of  these  executions.  Dr.  Trumbull  examined  the  volume  in 
which  this  trial  for  defamation  is  contained,  as  he  has  made  extracts 
from  other  parts  of  it.  He  probably  saw,  that  there  was  a  record  of 
a  case  of  slander;  but  did  not  look  far  enough  to  ascertain  what 
the  slander  was.  If  he  had  read  the  record,  he  would  certainly  have 
stated  the  facts  as  they  there  appear.  How  it  happened,  that  this 
trial  for  defamation  was  in  New  Haven,  is  not  explained. 

After  the  union  of  New  Haven  with  Connecticut,  there  was  one 
trial  for  witchcraft ;  but  the  case  was  referred  to  the  Court  of  Assis- 
tants at  Hartford,  where  the  accused  was  acquitted. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  add,  that  on  reviewing  the  his- 
tory of  witchcraft,  as  it  existed,  not  in  Connecticut  only,  where  prob- 
ably but  two  executions  occurred,  but  in  other  parts  of  New  Eng- 
land, where  the  delusion  respecting  it  was  much  more  extensive,  and 
likewise  in  Virginia,  the  ground  of  surprise  is  not,  that  so  many,  but 
that  so  few  persons  were  condemned  to  death  for  this  crime.  On  the 
continent  of  Europe,  as  well  as  in  England,  the  number  who  suffered 
for  witchcraft  is  vastly  greater  in  proportion,  and  at  a  later  period, 
than  of  those  who  were  executed  in  the  English  colonies.* 


Note  M. 

It  has  been  said,  that  the  declarations  of  the  puritans  in  favor  of 
the  church  of  England,  were  insincere.  But  there  is  nothing  in  the 
spirit  of  them,  to  which,  I  suppose,  the  present  congregational 
churches  of  New  England  would  object,  or  in  the  language,  so  far 
as  it  is  applicable  to  present  circumstances,  which  they  would  refuse 
to  adopt. 

I  do  not  recollect  seeing  it  stated  in  any  of  our  early  histories, 
that  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Higginson  of  Salem,  removed 
to  New  Haven  after  his  death.  Mrs.  Higginson,  his  widow,  died  here 
early  in  the  year  1G40.  Her  estate  was  the  first  which  came  before 
the  court  of  magistrates  for  settlement,  after  the  planting  of  trie  col- 
ony. As  the  court  was  guided  in  their  decisions  in  this  case,  solely 
by  what  they  were  accustomed  to  call,  the  "  general  rules  of  right- 
eousness," it  may  interest  some  to  see  a  copy  of  the  record.  The 
orthography  is  not  followed.     The  court  was  held  Feb.  25,  1640. 

*  See  Scott's  Demonology.  and  Encycl.  Anicr.  Article  Witch. 


103 

"  Mrs.  Higginson,  late  planter  of  Quinnipiac,  dying  without  ma- 
king her  will,  and  leaving  behind  her  eight  children,  an  inventory  of 
her  estate  being  taken,  the  court  disposed  of  her  estate  and  children 
as  followeth,  with  consent  and  approbation  of  Mr.  John  Higginson, 
her  eldest  son. 

The  said  John  Hiowinson,  the  charges  of  his  education  consid- 
ered,  is  only  to  have  his  father's  books,  together  with  the  value  of  five 
pounds  in  bedding  for  his  portion. 

Francis  Higginson,  the  second  son,  and  Timothy,  the  third  son, 
their  education  also  considered,  are  to  have  each  of  them  twenty 
pounds  for  their  portions. 

Theophilus  Higginson,  though  well  educated,  yet  in  regard  of  his 
helpfulness  to  his  mother  and  her  estate,  is  to  have  forty  pounds  for 
his  portion. 

Samuel  Higginson,  is  also  to  have  forty  pounds  for  his  portion,  and 
to  be  with  Mr.  Eaton  as  his  servant,  for  the  full  term  of  two  years 
from  the  first  of  March  next  ensuing. 

Theophilus  and  Samuel  are  to  have  the  lot,  with  all  the  accommo- 
dations belonging  thereunto,  equally  to  be  divided  betwixt  them,  for 
fifty  pounds  of  their  portions. 

Ann  Higginson,  her  daughter,  is  to  have  forty  pounds  for  her  por- 
tion, and  her  mother's  old  clothes,  together  with  the  remainder  of  the 
estate,  when  the  debts  and  other  portions  are  paid. 

Charles  Higginson  is  to  have  forty  pounds  to  his  portion,  and  to  be 
with  Thomas  Fugill,  as  his  apprentice,  unto  the  full  end  and  term  of 
nine  years,  from  the  first  of  March  next  ensuing  the  date  hereof; 
and  the  said  Thomas  Fuo-ill  is  to  find  him  what  is  convenient  for  him 
as  a  servant,  and  to  keep  him  at  school  one  year,  or  else  to  advantage 
him  as  much  in  his  education  as  a  year's  learning  comes  to ;  and  he 
is  to  have  the  benefit  of  the  use  of  his  portion  till  the  said  term  be 
expired,  and  at  the  end  thereof,  to  pay  it  to  the  said  Charles  Hig- 
ginson, if  he  live  till  the  said  nine  years  be  expired,  but  if  he  die  be- 
fore, then  the  said  Thomas  Fugill  is  to  pay  the  said  portion  to  the 
rest  of  his  brothers,  that  are  alive  at  the  end  of  said  nine  years. 

Neophytus  Higginson  being  with  Mr.  Hough  in  the  Bay  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, is  to  remain  with  him,  and  to  be  brought  up  by  him,  till 
he  attain  the  full  age  of  twenty  one  years,  and  in  the  mean  time  Mr. 
Hough  is  to  have  forty  pounds  of  the  estate,  which  he  is  to  pay  to  the 
said  Neophytus,  at  the  end  of  the  said  term,  as  his  portion.  When 
the  farm  at  Saugus  is  sold,  it  is  to  be  equally  divided  among  the 
brothers." 


104 


Note  N. 

Where,  and  how,  the  story  of  the  New  Haven  Blue  Latcs,  ori- 
ginated, is  a  matter  of  some  curiosity.  According  to  Dr.  Peters, 
whose  authority  as  a  historian,  it  is  not  necessary  again  to  consider, 
the  epithet  blue,  was  applied  to  the  laws  of  New  Haven  by  the  neigh- 
boring colonies,  because  these  laws  were  thought  peculiarly  san- 
guinary :  and  he  says,  that  blue  is  here  equivalent  to  bloody.  It  is  a 
sufficient  refutation  of  this  account  of  the  matter,  to  say,  that  if  there 
was  any  distinction  between  the  colony  of  New  Haven,  and  the  other 
united  colonies  of  New  England,  in  the  severity  of  their  punish- 
ments, New  Haven  was  the  last  of  the  number  to  gain  this  bad  pre- 
eminence. Others  have  said,  that  certain  laws  of  New  Haven,  of 
a  more  private  and  domestic  kind,  were  bound  in  a  blue  cover;  and 
hence  the  name.  This  explanation  has  as  little  probability  as  the 
preceding,  for  its  support.  It  is  well  known,  that  on  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.,  the  puritans  became  the  subject  of  every  kind  of 
reproach  and  contumely.  Not  only  what  was  deserving  of  censure 
in  their  deportment,  but  their  morality  was  especially  held  up  to 
scorn.  The  epithet  blue  was  applied  to  any  one,  who  looked  with 
disapprobation  on  the  licentiousness  of  the  times.  The  presbyte- 
rians,  under  which  name  all  dissenters  were  often  included,  as 
they  still  dared  to  be  the  advocates  of  decency,  were  more  par- 
ticularly designated  by  this  term  ;  their  religion  and  their  morality 
being  marked  by  it  as  mean,  and  contemptible.     Thus  Butler, 

"  For  his  religion,  it  was  fit 
To  match  his  learning  and  Lis  wit ; 
'Twas  Presbyterian  true  blue." 

Hudib.  Cuiil.  1. 

That  this  epithet  of  derision  should  find  its  way  to  the  colonies 
was  a  matter  of  course.  It  was  here  applied  not  only  to  persons, 
but  to  the  customs,  institutions,  and  laws  of  the  puritans,  by  those 
who  wished  to  render  the  prevailing  system  ridiculous.  Hence  prob- 
ably a  belief  with  some,  that  a  distinct  system  of  laws,  known  as 
the  '  blue  laws,'  must  have  had  somewhere,  a  local  habitation.  It 
seems  that  the  impression,  that  these  laws  had  been  embodied  more 
especially  in  New  Haven,  had  become  quite  common,  as  early  at 
least  as  1 767.     In  the  continuation  of  Smith's  History  of  New  York, 


105 

published  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Collections  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  the  author  states,  that  being  in  New  Haven,  he 
examined  the  early  records  of  the  colony.  He  subjoins  the  follow- 
ing. "  A  note  ought  not  to  be  suppressed  respecting  these  records, 
to  correct  a  voice  of  misplaced  ridicule.  Few  there  are,  who  speak 
of  the  blue  laws,  (a  title,  of  the  origin  of  which,  the  author  was  igno- 
rant,) who  do  not  imagine  they  form  a  code  of  rules  for  future  con- 
duct, drawn  up  by  an  enthusiastic,  precise  set  of  religionists ;  and  if 
the  inventions  of  wits,  humorists,  and  buffoons  were  to  be  credited, 
they  must  consist  of  many  large  volumes.  The  author  had  the  curi- 
osity to  resort  to  them,  when  the  Commissaries  met  at  New  Haven, 
for  adjusting  a  partition  line  between  New  York  and  the  Massachu- 
setts in  1767 ;  and  a  parchment  covered  book  of  demi-royal  paper 
was  handed  him  for  the  laws  asked  for,  as  the  only  volume  in  the 
office  passing  under  this  odd  title.  It  contains  the  memorials  of  the 
first  establishment  of  the  colony,  which  consisted  of  persons,  who 
had  wandered  beyond  the  limits  of  the  old  charter  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  and  who,  as  yet  unauthorized  by  the  crown  to  set  up  any 
civil  government  in  due  form  of  law,  resolved  to  conduct  themselves 
by  the  Bible.  As  a  necessary  consequence,  the  judges  they  chose, 
took  up  an  authority  similar  to  that,  which  every  religious  man  exer- 
cises over  his  own  children  and  domestics.  Hence  their  attention 
to  the  morals  of  the  people,  in  instances  with  which  the  civil  magis- 
trate can  never  intermeddle,  under  a  regular  well-policied  institution  ; 
because,  to  preserve  liberty,  they  are  cognizable  only  by  parental 
authority.  The  select-man,  under  the  blue  laws,  found  it  his  duty  to 
punish  every  contravention  to  the  decorum  enjoined  by  the  broad 
commandments  of  heaven.  The  good-men  and  good-wives  of  the 
new  society  were  admonished  and  fined  for  liberties  daily  corrected, 
but  never  made  criminal  by  the  laws  of  large  and  well-poised  com- 
munities ;  and  so  far  is  the  common  idea  of  the  blue  laws  beinsr  a 
collection  of  rules  from  being  true,  that  they  are  only  records  of  con- 
victions, consonant,  in  the  judgment  of  the  magistrates,  to  the  word 
of  God,  and  dictates  of  reason.  The  prophet,  priest,  and  king  of 
this  infant  colony,  was  that  Davenport,  who  was  in  such  consideration 
as  to  be  sent  for  to  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  in  set- 
tling the  religion  of  the  English  and  Scotch  nations.  These  remarks 
were,  by  the  author,  communicated  to  Mr.  Hutchinson  of  Boston, 
then  one  of  the  Commissaries,  and  to  other  gentlemen  of  eminence 
in  the  colony  and  of  the  very  town  of  New  Haven,  who  heard  them 

14 


106 

Ss  novelties;  nor  would  the  former  adopt  them,  till  he  had  recourse, 
the  next  day,  to  the  records  themselves."* 

The  volume,  examined  by  Judge  Smith  and  Gov.  Hutchinson,  was 
evidently  the  first  volume  of  the  colonial  records.  The  author  is 
correct  in  saying,  that  this  volume  contains  no  code  of  laws;  and 
there  is  nothing  corresponding  to  what  are  called  the  blue  laws, 
to  be  found  in  any  other  volume.  He  might  have  added,  that  the 
decisions  of  the  magistrates  to  which  he  refers,  though  sometimes  re- 
lating to  matters  of  decorum,  contain  no  references  to  any  code  of 
laws,  or  imply  any  such  regulations  as  most  of  those,  which  Peters 
reports  as  the  blue  laws  of  New  Haven.  No  proceedings  before  the 
magistrates,  it  is  believed,  are  recorded,  which  imply,  that  the  dress 
of  the  inhabitants  was,  in  any  degree,  a  matter  of  their  cognizance; 
much  less  that  such  rules  were  enforced,  as  many  of  those  mentioned 
by  Peters.  This  author  affirms,  that  among  the  blue  laws,  never  suf- 
fered to  be  printed,  were  such  laws  as  these, — "no  one  shall  travel, 
cook  victuals,  make  beds,  sweep  house,  cut  hair,  or  shave,  on  the  sab- 
bath day."    "  No  woman  shall  kiss  her  child  on  the  sabbath  or  fasting 


*  Judge  Smith  saw  in  the  colony  records,  accounts  of  the  efforts  made  by 
Mr.  Davenport  to  establish  a  college  in  New  Haven,  and  supposes  errone- 
ously that  Yale  College  had  this  early  origin.  This  mistake  is  the  more  re- 
markable, as  the  author  himself  was  educated  at  Yale  College,  where?  he 
received  his  Bachelor's  degree  in  1745.  "  It  was  from  this  seminary,"  [Yale 
College]  he  adds,  truly, "  that  many  of  the  western  churches  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  were  afterwards  furnished  with  their  English  clergymen.  Mr. 
Smith,  who  was  a  tutor,  and  declined  the  Rector's  chair  of  Yale  College,  va- 
cant by  the  removal  of  Dr.  Cutler,  was  the  first  lay  character  of  it  belonging 
to  the  colony  of  New  York.  Their  numbers  multiplied  some  years  after- 
wards, and,  especially,  when  at  his  instance,  Mr.  Philip  Livingston,  the 
second  proprietor  of  the  manor  of  that  name,  encouraged  that  academy,  by 
sending  several  of  his  sons  to  it  for  their  education.  To  the  disgrace  of  our 
first  planters,  who  beyond  comparison  surpassed  their  eastern  neighbors  in 
opulence,  Mr.  Delancey,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and 
Mr.  Smith,  were,  for  many  years,  the  only  academics  in  this  province,  ex- 
cept such  as  were  in  holy  orders  ;  and  so  late  as  the  period  we  are  now  exam- 
ining, [1746-47]  the  author  did  not  recollect  above  thirteen  more."  Of  these 
thirteen,  whose  names  are  given  by  the  author,  twelve  were  graduated  at 
Yale  College.  The  William  Smith  mentioned  above,  who  was  a  tutor  of  the 
college,  was  graduated  1719,  and  was  the  father  of  the  author,  Chief  Justice 
Smith.  That  Mr.  Smith  was  offered  the  Rector's  chair,  as  above  stated, 
must  be  received  on  such  authority,  as  true  ;  but  the  offer  was  probably 
made  in  an  informal  way,  as  the  fact  does  not  appear  on  the  college  records. 


107 

day."  "  No  one  shall  read  Common  Prayer,  keep  Christmas,  or 
Saints'  days,  make  mince  pies,  dance,  play  cards,  or  play  on  any  in- 
strument of  music,  except  the  drum,  trumpet  and  jews-harp."  '  Ev- 
ery male  shall  have  his  hair  cut  round  according  to  a  cap  :"  and 
many  others  like  these,  of  which  there  is  no  trace,  it  is  believed,  on 
the  records ;  unless  perhaps,  playing  cards  would  have  come  under 
censure. 

Peters  places  to  the  account  of  New  Haven,  laws  of  other  juris- 
dictions, but  which  New  Haven  knew  nothing  of.  For  instance,  he 
says,  there  was  a  blue  law,  that  "  no  priest  shall  abide  in  this  domin- 
ion ;  he  shall  be  banished,  and  suffer  death  on  his  return."  There 
was  a  law  against  priests  and  Jesuits  in  Massachusetts,  and  in  New 
York,  and  they  were  to  suffer  death  in  certain  cases;  but  there  was 
no  such  law  in  New  Haven.  He  mentions  also  a  few  laws,  which 
may  be  found  substantially,  in  the  New  Haven  code.  Thus,  he 
enumerates  among  the  blue  laws,  this  against  lying.  "  Whoever 
publishes  a  lie  to  the  prejudice  of  his  neighbor,  shall  sit  in  the  stocks 
or  be  whipped  fifteen  stripes."  The  New  Haven  code,  as  before 
stated,  contained  a  law  against  lying  ;  but  it  is  not  here  correctly  rep- 
resented ;  though  it  is  a  little  remarkable,  that  the  author  in  this  in- 
stance, swerves  less  from  the  fact,  than  perhaps  in  the  case  of  any 
other  law  in  his  whole  list.  He  must  have  felt  a  peculiar  horror  of 
this  ordinance  ;  which  circumstance  probably  fixed  the  terms  of  it 
more  exactly  in  his  mind.  Gov.  Hutchinson,  in  his  history  of  Ma- 
ssachusetts, and  Dr.  Belknap,  in  his  history  of  New  Hampshire,  enu- 
merate laws  in  other  colonies,  which  approach  much  nearer  the 
character  of  the  code  described  by  Peters,  than  any  thing,  which 
ever  was  enjoined  in  the  colony  of  New  Haven. 

Hubbard  says,*  "  they,"  the  colonists  of  New  Haven,  "  were  very 
vigorous  in  the  execution  of  justice,  and  especially  the  punishment 
of  offenders."  This  account  is  fully  confirmed  by  the  colony  records. 
Their  laws  were  not  a  dead  letter;  and  the  rigid  execution  of  them 
may  have  given  New  Haven  very  early,  the  reputation  of  legislating 
in  minute  particulars,  beyond  what  was  fact.  It  is  a  little  singular, 
that  this  colony  should  have  had  so  extensively  the  name  of  regu- 
lating the  cut  of  the  hair,  and  the  fashion  of  the  dress  of  the  inhab- 
itants, when  of  the  United  Colonies,  it  was  the  only  one  which  ab- 
stained from  all  laws  of  this  description.     Even  the  law  respecting 

*  323. 


108 

tobacco  in  New  Haven,  went  no  farther  than  to  forbid  smoking, 
where  buildings  might  be  endangered. 

It  may  be  important  here  to  add,  that  the  New  Haven  Colonial 
records,  including  the  records  of  the  General  Court,  the  court  of 
magistrates,  town  meetings,  and  the  settlement  of  estates,  are  nearly 
or  quite  entire;  and  in  good  preservation.  It  is  most  evident,  from 
a  very  slight  inspection  of  these  volumes,  that  nothing  of  any  impor- 
tance was  transacted  in  the  colony,  which  was  not  recorded  at  the 
time,  and  with  a  detail  of  particulars,  which  precludes  the  possibility 
of  there  having  been  rules  of  conduct  enforced  by  any  public  author- 
ity, which  are  not  there  mentioned. 

Note  O. 

The  evidence  of  the  early  existence  of  the  West  India  trade  in 
New  Haven,  is  found  in  the  records  of  the  settlement  of  the  estates  of 
some  of  the  first  planters.  Thus,  Isaac  Allerton,  who  had  been  exten- 
tensively  engaged  in  commerce  at  Plymouth,  continued  in  the  same 
business  at  New  Haven  ;  and  it  appears  from  the  Probate  Records, 
that  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1659,  he  had  business  connections, 
among  other  places,  at  Barbadocs.  The  existence  at  New  Haven 
of  the  same  trade,  though  not  its  amount,  may  be  traced  in  the 
Probate  Records,  from  the  time  of  the  original  colonists,  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Custom  House  ;  when  the  evidence  becomes  direct. 

Note  P. 

According  to  Hubbard,*  the  first  planters  of  New  Haven,  and  of 
the  other  towns  of  the  colony,  were  "  several  seasons  sorely  afflicted 
with  diseases,  especially  fevers."  He  relates,  that,  some  years,  "  an 
ao-ue  and  fever  hath  been  almost  universal  upon  the  plantations,  yet 
little  mortality;  at  other  times  it  hath  been  very  mortal  in  a  planta- 
tion or  two,  when  others,  that  have  had  as  many  sick,  have  scarcely 
made  one  grave." — "  At  one  time  or  other  every  plantation,  within 
less  than  these  forty  years,  hath  had  its  turn  of  heavy  mortality,  and 
some  twice  or  thrice  over."  He  adds,  "  setting  aside  the  effects  of 
this  disease,  those  places  have  been  generally  very  healthy,  and,  that 
notwithstanding,  have  been  all  along,  and  arc  at  this  day,  in  a  very 

*324. 


109 

increasing  way  ;  growing  numerous,  over-stocked,  and  ready  to  look 
out  for  new  plantations  almost  every  where." 

The  early  physicians  in  New  Haven  seem  not  to  have  been  men  of 
much  eminence  in  their  profession  ;  at  least,  the  people  of  the  town, 
had  not,  apparently,  much  confidence  in  their  ability.  Several  at- 
tempts were  made  to  procure  physicians  of  more  knowledge,  and  of 
larger  experience.  "  At  a  General  Court  for  New  Haven,  the  14th 
of  November,  1651,  the  Governor  acquainted  the  Court,  that  there 
is  a  physician  come  to  the  town ;  who,  he  thinks,  is  willing  to  stay 
here,  if  he  may  have  encouragement.  He  is  a  Frenchman,  but  hath 
lived  in  England,  and  in  Holland,  a  great  while ;  and  hath  good  tes- 
timonials from  both  places,  and  from  the  University  of  Franeker, 
where  he  hath  approved  himself  in  his  disputations,  able  in  under- 
standing in  that  art:  and  Mr.  Davenport  saith,  he  finds  in  discourse 
with  him,  that  his  abilities  answer  the  testimony  given.  Now  the 
town  may  consider  what  they  will  do  in  the  case ;  for  it  is  not  good 
to  neglect  such  providences  of  God,  when  they  are  offered.  The 
Court  after  consideration  desired  the  former  committee  to  speak  with 
him,  and  desire  his  settling  amongst  us;  and  that  he  may  have  a 
house  provided  ;  and  encouraged  in  provisions,  and  what  also  is  ne- 
cessary, to  the  value  of  ten  pounds."  On  the  17th  of  the  same 
month,  the  committee  reported,  "  that  they  had  spoke  with  the 
French  Doctor,  and  find  his  wants  so  many,  that  ten  pounds  will  go 
but  a  little  way,  in  providing  for  him."  Arrangements  were  how- 
ever made  for  procuring  a  house  for  his  use,  and  furnishing  it.  A 
house  was  obtained  by  the  committee,  and  furniture  was  loaned  by 
various  individuals.  Among  other  reasons  for  their  efforts,  this  is  as- 
signed, that  the  doctor  "  may  be  of  good  use,  particularly  in  respect 
to  Mrs.  Davenport's  case."  The  9th  of  February  following,  "  the 
magistrates  and  elders  were  desired  to  speak  with  the  doctor,  and 
see,  if  they  cannot  settle  a  more  moderate  price  for  his  visiting  of 
sick  folks,  than  he  hath  yet  taken."  "  The  doctor,"  for  he  seems 
to  have  been  always  so  called  by  way  of  eminence,  was  immovable 
on  the  point  of  compensation  ;  and,  on  his  application,  the  town  vo- 
ted, in  December,  1652,  that  "  he  shall  have  liberty  to  go,  as  he  sees 
he  hath  opportunity."  The  name  of  this  physician  was  Chats.  A 
history  of  the  medical  profession  in  New  Haven,  from  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town,  is  a  desideratum. 


no 


Note  Q. 

There  is  nothing  on  the  colony  records,  which  is  inconsistent 
with  the  fact  stated  by  Hubbard.  Gov.  Leete  appears  on  all  occa- 
sions, after  the  arrival  of  the  charter,  to  have  withheld  his  opinion  on 
the  course  which  it  was  proper  to  pursue.  At  "  a  meeting  of  the 
freemen  of  New  Haven  colony  at  New  Haven,  November  4th,  1662," 
Governor  Leete  desired  the  assembly  "  to  speak  their  minds  freely, 
for  he  designed,  that  the  freemen  themselves  would  give  the  sub- 
stance of  the  answer  [to  Connecticut]  voluntarily."  "  The  gover- 
nor further  said,  that  for  his  part,  he  should  not  be  forward  to  lead 
them  in  this  case,  lest  any  should  think  him  ambitious  of  the  place." 
This  extraordinary  modesty  proceeded  in  part,  without  doubt,  from 
his  differing  in  opinion  on  the  point  at  issue,  from  the  great  majority 
of  the  meeting.  His  opinion  was,  that  the  two  colonies  ought  to  be 
united  under  the  new  charter;  and  in  this  he  was  unquestionably 
right.  The  worthy  governor  seems  to  have  thought  it  expedient  to 
temporize  a  little ;  but  there  is  no  evidence,  that  he  did  any  thing 
in  violation  of  truth  or  integrity.  Governor  Leete  retained  fully  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  He  was  continued  governor  of  New  Ha- 
ven till  the  union.  In  1 670,  he  was  elected  Deputy  Governor  of 
Connecticut;  and  on  the  death  of  Gov.  Winthrop  in  1676,  Gov. 
Leete  was  chosen  to  succeed  him ;  and  was  governor  of  Connecti- 
cut, by  annual  election,  till  his  death  in  1683.  Mather  says  of  him, 
"in  his  whole  government,  he  gave  continual  demonstrations  of  an 
excellent  spirit,  especially  in  that  part  of  it,  when  the  reconciliation 
and  the  coalition  of  the  spirits  of  the  people  under  it  was  to  be  ac- 
complished."* Dr.  Trumbull  remarks  of  Gov.  Leete,  "  In  both  col- 
onies, he  presided  in  times  of  the  greatest  difficulty,  yet  always  con- 
ducted himself  with  such  integrity  and  wisdom,  as  to  meet  the  pub- 
lic approbation. "t 

*  Magnal.  Book  II,  30.  t  Hist,  of  Connect.  Vol.  I,  Chap.  xv. 


CELEBRATION 


OF    THE 


SECOND   CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY, 


OF    THE 


PLANTING   OF    NEW   HAVEN 


APRIL  25,  1838. 


Arrangements  having  been  made  by  a  joint  committee  of  the 
Connecticut  Academy,  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Council 
of  the  city,  and  the  Select-men  of  the  town  of  New  Haven,  for  the  cel- 
ebration of  this  anniversary,  at  about  half  past  eight  o'clock,  in  the 
morning,  the  citizens  began  to  assemble  near  the  southern  portico  of 
the  State  House.  Scholars  of  both  sexes,  of  the  several  schools  of 
the  city,  under  the  superintendence  of  their  respective  instructors, 
were  arranged  on  the  public  square,  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thou- 
sand in  number.  The  military  escort  consisted  of  the  Artillery,  under 
the  command  of  Capt.  Morris  Tyler,  and  the  Greys,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Capt.  Elijah  Thompson.  The  procession  was  formed  under 
the  superintendence  of  Charles  Robinson,  Esq.,  Marshall  of  the  day, 
assisted  by  several  others.  From  the  State  House,  the  procession, 
comprising  the  various  classes  of  citizens,  and  strangers,  proceeded 
to  Temple  street,  up  Chapel  street  to  College  street,  through  Col- 
lege street  to  its  intersection  with  George  street;  at  which  place  un- 
der a  spreading  oak,  Mr.  Davenport  preached  his  first  sermon  just 
two  hundred  years  before.     Here  the  procession  halted,  for  religious 


112 

exercises.  Not  only  the  streets  were  filled,  but  the  roofs  of  the 
neighboring  houses  were  partly  covered,  and  some  persons  had  taken 
their  stations  in  the  trees.  The  number  here  assembled  was  vari- 
ously estimated  from  four  to  five  thousand.  The  exercises  of  this 
place  were  commenced  by  singing  four  stanzas  of  the  80th  Psalm, 
in  the  version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins.     Tune,  St.  Martins. 

O  take  us  Lord  unto  thy  grace, 

convert  our  mindes  to  thee  ; 
Shew  forth  to  us  thy  joyfull  face 

and  we  full  safe  shall  be. 

From  Egypt,  where  it  grew  not  well, 

thou  brought'st  a  vine  full  deare; 
The  heathen  folke  thou  didst  expell, 

and  thou  didst  plant  it  there. 

Thou  didst  prepare  for  it  a  place, 

and  set  her  rootes  full  fast  ; 
That  it  did  grow,  and  spring  apace, 

and  fill'd  the  land  at  last. 

O  Lord  of  Hoasts  through  thy  good  grace, 

convert  us  unto  thee  ; 
Behold  us  with  a  pleasant  face, 

and  then  full  safe  are  wee. 

Near  the  spot  where  the  oak  tree  is  supposed  to  have  stood,  a  stage 
was  erected,  on  which  the  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Hotchkiss,  of  Saybrook, 
attended  by  the  Rev.  L.  Bacon,  offered  prayer.  Mr.  Hotchkiss  is  a 
native  of  New  Haven.  His  mother  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Gov. 
Jones,  and  thus  connected  with  the  family  of  Gov.  Eaton.  Mr. 
Hotchkiss  was  distinctly  heard  by  the  whole  assembly,  and  the  prayer 
was  peculiarly  appropriate,  solemn  and  impressive.  After  the  reli- 
gious exercises  were  closed,  the  procession  was  again  formed,  and 
moved  down  George  street  to  State  street,  up  State  street  to  Elm 
street,  up  Elm  street,  by  the  place  where  the  houses  of  Gov.  Eaton 
and  Mr.  Davenport  formerly  stood,  till  it  reached  Temple  street,  and 
then  down  Temple  street  to  the  first  Congregational  Church,  where 


113 

the  society,  whose  first  pastor  was  Mr.  Davenport,  worship ;  and  near 
which  spot,  the  first  house  of  worship  was  erected.  At  church,  the 
following  exercises  were  performed.  The  music  was  by  a  full  choir, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Ailing  Brown. 


1.  Hymn.     By  William  T.  Bacon,  a.  b. 

Lo !  we  are  gathering  here 
Now  in  the  young  green  year, 

And  welcoming 
Th'  days  which  the  ocean  o'er 
Did,  to  New  England's  shore, 
Those  noble  souls  of  yore, 

Our  fathers,  bring. 

Here  where  now  temples  rise, 
Knelt  they  'neath  these  same  skies, 

The  woods  among; 
And  to  the  murmuring  sea, 
And  to  the  forest  free, 
The  home  of  liberty, 

Echo'd  their  song. 

Lives  not  then  in  our  veins — 
Speak  not  our  battle  plains — 

A  blood  like  theirs? 
Aye  !  and  from  this  same  sod, 
Fearing  no  tyrant's  rod, 
To  the  same  Father,  God, 

Ascend  our  prayers. 

Make  theirs,  O  Goo,  our  fame; 
Worthy  to  bear  their  name  ; 

O  may  we  ever  be  ; 
Thus,  while  each  gladsome  spring 
Comes  with  its  blossoming, 
Loud  shall  our  anthems  ring 

For  them  and  thee ! 

15 


114 

Theirs  was  tlie  godlike  part — 
Theirs  were  the  hand  and  heart — 

Trust-tried,  though  few  : 
Grant  that  our  souls  be  led, 
Thinking  of  our  great  dead, 
And  by  their  spirit  fed, 

To  deeds  as  true. 

So  doth  the  eaglet,  nurs'd 
High  where  the  thunders  burst, 

Gaze  with  fix'd  eye, 
Till,  gain'd  its  parent's  form, 
With  the  same  instinct  warm, 
It  breasts  the  same  loud  storm, 

And  cleaves  the  sky. 

2.  Reading  of  Isaiah  xxxv.     By  Rev.  Lorenzo  T.  Bennett, 

Assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church. 

3.  Prayer.  By  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  Pastor  of  the  first  Con- 
gregational Church. 

4.  Anthem,  from  Isaiah  xxxiv.  17,  and  xxxv.  1,  2.  Words  se- 
lected by  Rev.  L.  Bacon.     Music  composed  by  Rev.  Prof.  Fitch. 

The  Lord,  He  hath  cast  the  lot  for  them,  and  his  hand  hath  di- 
vided it  unto  them  by  line ;  they  shall  possess  it  forever.  From  gen- 
eration unto  generation  they  shall  dwell  therein. 

The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad  for  them ;  the 
desert  shall  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

It  shall  blossom  abundantly,  and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  sing- 
ing. The  nations  they  shall  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  the  ex- 
cellency of  our  God. 

5.  Historical  Discourse.     By  Prof.  Kingsley. 

0.  Prayer.  By  Rev.  Edwin  E.  Griswold,  Minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church. 

7.  Hymn.     By  Rev.  L.  Bacon. 

The  Sabbath  morn  was  bright  and  calm 

Upon  the  hills,  the  woods,  the  sea, 
When  here  the  prayer  and  choral  psalm, 

First  rose,  our  fathers'  God,  to  thee. 


115 

Thou  heard'st,  well-pleased,  the  song,  the  pray'r ; 

Thy  blessing  came  ;  and  still  its  power 
Goes  onward,  through  all  time  to  bear 

The  mem'ry  of  that  holy  hour. 

What  change  !    Through  pathless  woods,  no  more 
The  fierce  and  naked  savage  roams ; 

Sweet  praise,  along  the  cultur'd  shore, 
Breaks  from  a  thousand  happy  homes. 

Law,  freedom,  truth,  and  faith  in  Gon, 
Came  with  those  exiles  o'er  the  waves ; 

And  where  their  pilgrim  feet  have  trod, 
The  God  they  trusted  guards  their  graves. 

Here  peace,  beneath  thy  wings,  and  truth 
And  law-girt  freedom  still  shall  dwell  ; 

And  rev'rend  age  to  manly  youth 
His  treasured  stores  of  wisdom  tell. 

And  here  thy  name,  O  God  of  love, 
Successive  thousands  shall  adore, 

Till  these  eternal  hills  remove, 

And  spring  adorns  the  earth  no  more. 

8.  Benediction.     By.  Rev.  L.  T.  Bennett. 


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